Men’s soccer hits the road with eyes on SUNYACs

The Geneseo men’s soccer team split a pair of games against SUNY Oswego and SUNY Cortland on Oct. 17 and Saturday Oct. 18, dropping the first game then coming back to defeat Cortland the next day. The Knights were unable to find the back of the net throughout the weekend, tallying just one goal. The team is currently fourth in the SUNYAC standings and is in position to make the SUNYAC tournament. The Knights kicked off the weekend against fifth-place Oswego. Despite their superior record, the Knights were unable to vanquish the Lakers. Head coach Dominic Oliveri said that he was disappointed that his team was not able to make a mark on the score sheet.

“We held the ball in possession on our side of the field most of the game,” he said. “It’s disappointing to hold the ball in possession for that long and not score. We just couldn’t get anything accomplished on the offensive end.”

The Knights backfield was able to hold Oswego to only three shots on goal, but one goal from sophomore defender Brody Magro sealed the deal for the Lakers.

The Knights then went on to face second-place Cortland. Against all odds, the Knights were able to win against their playoff-bound opponent after senior midfielder Connor Beisner scored his second goal of the season.

“We really needed this win. We played a tough team and we really showed that we were the better team,” Oliveri said. “It was a good all-around game for our offense and our defense.”

In the coming week of Friday Oct. 24, the Knights will be preparing themselves for a run at the SUNYAC playoffs. The race to the playoffs will not be easy for the Knights. Oliveri outlined the best and worst case scenarios—they are quite different.

“Best case scenario, we climb up to number three in the rankings and we get home field for our opener,” he said. “Worst case scenario, we can drop out of playoff contention altogether, so the next few games are very important to us.”

The Knights’ final SUNYAC games against SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam will be on the road. This would normally be a disadvantage compared to playing games on their home field. This isn’t the case, however, for Geneseo.

“I actually don’t know why, but we played some of our best games on the road,” Oliveri said. “Maybe it’s because the guys spend more time with one another because they’re at the hotel instead of just going back to a suite or a dorm room. I have no idea why, but I’m not too worried about [these games].”

The Knights hit the road on Friday Oct. 24 against Plattsburgh and Saturday Oct. 25 against Potsdam.

Men’s soccer splits another SUNYAC weekend

The Geneseo men’s soccer team split another set of conference games as the Knights rolled past SUNY New Paltz on Oct. 3, but were unable to defeat SUNY Oneonta on Saturday Oct. 4. The Knights extended their winning streak to three games in a row when they defeated New Paltz 3-1, with junior defender Terence McGovern, junior defender Brad Campion and senior forward Jason Iannone capitalizing on early opportunities in the first half against New Paltz.

Head coach Dominic Oliveri said that he was happy with the early lead that the Knights got against their opponents.

“New Paltz is one of those teams that can be tricky and we jumped on them early,” he said.

All the goals in the game were scored in the first half. Oliveri said that the wind played a big role in the game––in the first half, the wind was on the Knights’ side. Once the wind shifted in favor to New Paltz, Oliveri applauded his team’s defensive efforts.

“In the second half, New Paltz had the wind and it was a big advantage at times,” Oliveri said. “We had to defend and we defended really well in the second half. We really limited their chances.”

Despite cruising past New Paltz, the Knights were unable to carry the high energy of the victory over to the game against fifth-ranked Oneonta.

The Knights began the game sluggishly, getting outshot nine-to-five in the first half. Oneonta also scored two goals in the first half and was able to keep the Knights at bay until the Red Dragons conceded a penalty.

“I knew it was going to be a close game since Oneonta is the top team in our conference,” Oliveri said. “We were playing well so I thought it would be a really close game. The score indicates that it was a close game, but emotionally we could not keep up. That was the big disappointment for me.”

After senior midfielder Connor Beisner connected on a penalty kick, the Knights had time to tie the game. Unfortunately, they were not able to put the ball in the net again.

“Even when we made the game 2-1, we scored with 12 minutes left—which is an eternity in soccer—I thought it would bring a sense of urgency,” Oliveri said. “But even then, it wasn’t good enough.”

Heading into fall break, Oliveri is looking ahead to Geneseo’s next conference game against SUNY Brockport on Saturday Oct. 11.

“If we come against Brockport like we did against Oneonta, we’d get crushed,” Oliveri said. “I’m a firm believer in working hard. We just have to compete for 90 minutes––if we do that, we’ll be in every game.”

Men’s soccer splits conference openers

The Geneseo men’s soccer team may have began its SUNYAC campaign with a rough start against SUNY Fredonia, but the Knights made up for it with a 2-1 win against Buffalo State. The Knights lost to Fredonia 1-0 Sept. 26, holding off Fredonia’s offense up until the final minutes of the game.

“Fredonia is having a pretty good year and they had a good run of form lately,” head coach Dominic Oliveri said.

The game was the first conference game of the season and Oliveri said that he had expected to see a high level of intensity during the game.

“I was trying to get the team to realize that the game was going to be much more intense and physical; that we needed to be much more engaged,” he said.

Geneseo and Fredonia battled for possession and exchanged opportunities to score throughout the entire game. Fredonia outshot the Knights 11-9, but Oliveri thought Geneseo played at a higher level for at least part of the game.

“I thought we were the better team in the second half,” he said. “We had four or five really good chances, whereas they had one or two.”

Despite these opportunities, Geneseo has not been able to put the ball into the back of the net this season.

“We’re getting quality chances—which are a good thing—but we’re not finishing,” Oliveri said. “Mentality-wise, it’s getting to our heads.”

Going into the game against Buffalo State, Oliveri needed his team to bounce back strong.

“You can’t afford to lose back-to-back games in a weekend,” he said. “As soon as the Fredonia game was over, I told them to move on and look forward to tomorrow.”

The Knights confidence was initially shaken after Buffalo State scored three minutes into the first half. Geneseo went into halftime down 1-0, but they were able to turn it around by scoring two goals in the second half.

Oliveri said that after he substituted a few players, the team was able to win the game back. Junior defender Brad Campion and sophomore midfielder John Leva both scored, securing the win for the Knights.

Oliveri said that he is looking forward to the next SUNYAC games against SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Oneonta on Friday Oct. 3 and Saturday Oct. 4, respectively.

Editor’s note:

The Knights beat Nazareth College 3-0 on Tuesday Sept. 30.

Men's soccer aims to rebound after defeat at hobart

The Geneseo men’s soccer team has been unable to string back-to-back wins this season. The Knights secured a 4-2 win against Alfred State on Sept. 17, but fell to Hobart College on Saturday Sept. 20 by a score of 3-1. The squad began the week against Alfred and was able to overcome a first-half deficit en route to victory. The Pioneers scored two early goals to put them up 2-0 against the Knights. Geneseo sophomore forward Mike Skrzypczyk was able to strike first for the Knights, but the team was still down one going into halftime.

The Knights drew first blood in the second half, as senior forward Richard Bellusci scored the equalizer in the 47th minute. Geneseo did not look back, scoring two unanswered goals. Junior forwards Stanley Egbuchulam and Jesse Levy were the scorers of the Knights’ third and fourth goals, respectively.

Head coach Dominic Oliveri said he was very impressed with the turnaround—attributing the win to sparks off the bench.

“The biggest difference-makers were obviously from the bench,” Oliveri said. “I went to six or seven guys in the first half which I typically don’t do... We weren’t playing well at all and I just needed a different energy level and those guys came in and won the game for us.”

The sparks off the bench were key to Geneseo’s success in the second half.

“They played the majority of the game—for the rest of the game,” Oliveri said. “I didn’t take many of them out so it was nice to see.”

Oliveri said that because of the impressive play from the bench, he gave a few of the role players a chance to start against Hobart.

“Against Hobart, I changed some of the lineup and I put some of those guys in the starting lineup,” Oliveri said.

The Knights were unable to keep their momentum in their loss to Hobart. Oliveri said that Geneseo did not play badly, but the team simply failed to capitalize on opportunities. The Knights tallied 17 shots against the Statesmen, while Hobart was only able to get 9 shots.

“We didn’t play a bad game,” Oliveri said. “We dominated the first half. We had a lot of scoring opportunities that we were unable to convert. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

The Knights begin their SUNYAC play this coming week and Oliveri said that he is still searching for the answer for the team’s success.

“I’ve been with the same starting 11 for … five or six games,” Oliveri said. “After Alfred, I thought we needed a change because we were not off to good starts. Against Hobart, the energy was great, but we found ourselves down ... At this point, it’s just finding the right combination of players to set the tone for the game.”

Knights look to rebound after disappointing draw

The Geneseo men’s soccer team tried to overcome its loss to St. Lawrence University by striving to beat a winless Ithaca College on Sept. 13. They were not able to yield positive results, however, as the Knights scrapped out a 1-1 draw. “I expected it to be a close game, but I expected us to win,” head coach Dominic Oliveri said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

The Knights started the game being able to keep up with an invigorated Ithaca squad playing their home opener. Geneseo tallied six shots, netting one goal after junior defender Chris Kanaval scored his first of the season off a header from a perfect cross by senior midfielder Patrick Gunty.

With the lead at halftime, the Knights were unable to keep up their intensity and let a goal in as the second half started. Ithaca’s senior back Casey Williamson was able to score from an assist by junior back Jordan Filipowich. During the second half, the Knights could not recover and they were outshot by the Bombers eight to one. “I was disappointed. We were in the lead going into halftime,” Oliveri said. “With a team like that, I would think we could finish off the game but we didn’t. This was probably the first game out of our five where, for the majority, we just didn’t play well.”

When asked about what went wrong during the game, Oliveri said that the team did not start off with the right intensity and that they were unable to capitalize on improved play as the game continued. “I don’t think we were focused offensively at all,” he said.

Oliveri said that he does not want to dwell on the tie against Ithaca as he hopes to improve against Alfred University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

“It’s only one game––we played one bad game out of our five, so I will not look too much into it,” Oliveri said. “I want to continue to focus on this week. If there are concerns that develop over and over again, that will be something we will work on. But being only one game, I just want to move on.”

Men's soccer optimistic after split in non-conference

The Geneseo men’s soccer team split a pair of games between Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University on Sept. 5 and Saturday Sept. 6. The Knights easily handled Clarkson with a 2-0 final score, while they faltered against St. Lawrence, losing by a score of 2-1. Despite the outcome, the Knights displayed encouraging performances according to head coach Dominic Oliveri. In fact, he said that the team played worse against Clarkson than it did against St. Lawrence.

“We started off really sluggish. It’s hard to play these back-to-back games and it’s hard not to look ahead to the better team,” Oliveri said. “I think we got caught a little bit looking ahead and we just were not ourselves.”

Geneseo was able to pick up the pace during the second half as junior back Terence McGovern and senior midfielder Patrick Gunty were able to put up tallies on the scoreboard in the 74th and 77th minute, respectively.

“The first half was kind of a defensive struggle,” Oliveri said. “Neither team was doing much and I wasn’t too happy at halftime. The second half was different. We didn’t play great, but we put them under constant pressure.”

Although the Knights were able to get the win against Clarkson, Oliveri said that he thinks that the team played a lot better against St. Lawrence. The Knights controlled the game from the get-go, outshooting St. Lawrence 13-4. Geneseo started the game with intensity, but was unable to break the deadlock as they went into the half 0-0.

“I thought in the first half, we played really well and we had a lot of the run of the play,” Oliveri said. “It was a little unfortunate to be 0-0 at the half.”

St. Lawrence drew first blood as forward Morgan Smith took advantage of a Knights turnover and converted it into the back of the net. Geneseo then clawed its way back into the game at the 81st minute when Gunty curled in a cross to senior midfielder Connor Beisner. While unable to direct the header to goal, Beisner deflected the ball to junior midfielder Jaisen Clark, who was able to strike home.

The game went into a golden goal overtime and while the Knights controlled the possession of the overtime, St. Lawrence midfielder Ross Brandell converted a strike off the crossbar for a Saints win.

The Knights will hope to reverse their fortune against Ithaca College on Saturday Sept. 13. Oliveri said that he will look forward to the upcoming games and that he hopes the team continues their strong play.

“We hope to continue to play well,” Olveri said. “We have to score a little more on the run of play. But I think we’ll be alright. I’m really looking forward to the next few games.”

Knights 1-1 after Drew Fall Festival Tournament

While the school year has just begun, the Geneseo men’s soccer team has been hard at work preparing for the season. The Knights opened the season up with the Drew Tournament in Madison, New Jersey from Aug. 29 to 30. Geneseo hoped to defeat both Drew University and Susquehanna University but only won against the latter. The Knights' 2014 campaign started on Aug. 29 against Drew with a 1-0 loss. Junior goalkeeper Logan Calvey made two saves during the game and kept the clean sheet up until the 74th minute when John Nogiewich of Drew broke the deadlock.

“The two games that we played were very similar,” head coach Dominic Oliveri said. “We held possession well during the game and we held the run of play. We just did not capitalize on some opportunities that were presented to us.”

The Knights were presented with plenty of opportunities throughout the game. The team outshot Drew 14-11, but was unable to capitalize on its chances.

The Drew Tournament continued on Aug. 30 for Geneseo’s victory against Susquehanna. The Knights got off to a slow start, but then hit the back of the net in the beginning of the second half. Junior midfielder Jaisen Clark scored an unassisted goal. The Knights then tallied another goal as sophomore Matt D’Amico connected on a cross by senior midfielder Connor Beisner.

“The opportunities we missed against Drew, we got them against Susquehanna. We were able to capitalize on all the chances and we were firing on all cylinders,” Oliveri said. “Susquehanna is a team that made nationals the past two years, so I was very happy with the result.”

This year, Oliveri has implemented a new formation as well as a different emphasis on play strategy.

“Last year, we used a traditional 4-4-2 formation, but this year we are using a 1-5-4 formation and so far the guys really like it,” Oliveri said.

Geneseo lost a few seniors this past year, including captain defender Pat Lynch. Junior transfer Brad Campeon has filled the position well, however, exemplifying the depth that the Knights have this year.

The Knights hope to continue their winning ways in their season opener against Clarkson University at Geneseo on Friday Sept. 5, a team that the Knights have beaten each of the last two years.

Men's soccer closes season with losses

The Geneseo men’s soccer team went into the weekend of Oct. 25 and 26 with optimism for a playoff spot. The Knights needed to win one game to clinch the sixth seed of the SUNYAC conference. They lost both games, however, leaving the team winless since Oct. 12.

“All we really needed out of the four conference games was one win out of the four or two ties. We sort of mentally folded,” head coach Dom Oliveri said. “We weren’t the same team these last couple weeks of the season than we were in the first eight to 10 weeks.”

The Knights were one spot ahead of SUNY Potsdam heading into the contest on Oct. 25 but fell against the Bears 1-0. Potsdam scored on a corner kick header in the 53rd minute to seal the deal.

The following day, Geneseo took on SUNY Plattsburgh in a must-win game for the Knights. But two unassisted goals along with a Geneseo own goal left the Knights 0-2 on the weekend. The shutout game was the fifth scoreless game for the Knights in the season.

Already anticipating next season, Oliveri says he is looking forward to the improvements that will be made.

“In terms of team chemistry, we could have been a little stronger,” he said. “That’s something I want to improve on starting this spring.”

Also, as a result of the Knights’ final weeks, Oliveri said the team’s “mental attitude toward games have to be improved.”

The Knights will lose key components to the team next season, and Oliveri said that he hopes for current players to step up in their place, especially with the departure of senior captains Pat Lynch and Ryan Yurchak.

“[Lynch and Yurchak] were our emotional leaders out there. So we’re going to miss those two guys a lot,” Oliveri added.

In regards to offense, Oliveri said a few players could take over the void Yurchak will leave, albeit with some improvement.

“Upfront, we struggled at times this year. I played three, four, five different guys up there, and they never seemed to click,” Oliveri said. “[Sophomore Stanley Egbuchulam] has the potential to be really good for us. Junior Rich Bellusci started off the year really hot and sort of cooled down at the end, so we’ll see.”

Next season, Oliveri said he hopes to finish in the top six, something the Knights have never done under his tenure.

“It doesn’t feel good to not finish in the final six in the conference,” Oliveri said. “We just need to take each game one game at a time next season.”

Editor’s note:

The men’s soccer season ended Wednesday Oct. 30 in a 2-1 loss to St. John Fisher College. The Knights finished 6-10-3, 3-5-1 in SUNYACs.

Men's soccer faces 'biggest weekend' of season

The postseason became unclear for Geneseo’s men’s soccer team after a 0-1-1 weekend on Friday Oct. 18 and Saturday Oct. 19 against SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oswego. The week before, however, the Knights sealed a 2-1 win against undefeated and then nationally ranked SUNY Brockport.

Head coach Dominic Oliveri said the win against Brockport boosted the confidence of the team. He hoped that the Knights were able to have that self-assurance as they played Cortland and Oswego.

“My worry was, coming off a victory like that, if we can carry our morale psychologically and mentally into the next weekend,” Oliveri said.

The Knights were unable to “carry” that success against Cortland as they lost 2-0. Despite going scoreless in the game, the Knights outshot the Red Dragons 19-13, with seven on goal for Geneseo and only four for Cortland.

Oliveri said that inconsistency between halves had something to do with the loss.

“In the first half, we came in extremely sluggish, and I was disappointed in our effort,” he said. “Second half, we were in desperation mode, and we played extremely well. We created numerous offensive opportunities.”

The following day, Geneseo tied the winless Oswego team 1-1.

“From a talent standpoint, we were more talented,” Oliveri said. “In the stats, we controlled the game.”

The Knights dominated in front of goal by tallying 28 shots as opposed to six from Oswego. Geneseo’s goalkeeper sophomore Logan Calvey recorded three saves on the day.

The two weekend games mean that the Knights fell to fifth in the SUNYAC standings. The upcoming matches against SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh will have the possibility to decide their fate.

“We’re at a very vulnerable point in the conference standing right now at fifth place. Top six makes the playoffs,” Oliveri said. “Two games on Friday and Saturday, and we can finish anywhere from second to third to completely out. The teams below us inch closer to us due to our performance this past weekend.”

Going into the weekend, Potsdam is in seventh place and Plattsburgh in third.

The Knights’ situation is tricky. If everything goes well and they win both games, they will automatically be in the playoffs.

“It’s the biggest weekend of the year,” Oliveri said. “It will determine if we will make the playoffs or not.”

Men's soccer still having hard time against set pieces

The Geneseo men’s soccer team continued its losing streak this week as the team lost to Hobart College on Saturday Sept 21. Being the third loss out of four games for the Knights, it seems as though the team might have to head back to the drawing board. Head coach Dominic Oliveri said that he was tense about the game against Hobart because of the team’s performance against the University of Rochester as well as the similarity in playing styles.

“In formation, they play very attack-oriented soccer, they’re very technical and their movement off the ball is really good,” Oliveri said.

Nevertheless, Oliveri said that he felt the team performed well against Hobart despite the score. He said that the team played differently and with more effort against the Statesmen.

“Honestly, I think my [players] are a little embarrassed after Tuesday’s performance,” he added. “The effort was embarrassing [against Rochester], and I think that stayed in their head. They knew they had to come out and play a better ball game.”

Even though Oliveri said that Geneseo played well against Hobart, the team still has not improved its defense on set pieces. Both goals by the Statesmen were allowed off corner kicks. Six out of the 13 goals against the Knights this season came from set pieces. In the game against Hobart, Geneseo surrendered eight corner kicks, while the Statesmen did not allow any.

Because of this, Oliveri said he has started to rethink how the Knights defend set pieces.

“So I play man to man, but I think, starting today, I’m going to start playing more zonally-approach defensively and see if that gets them engaged mentally on set pieces,” Oliveri said. “Hopefully that will work.”

Oliveri also said that he hopes to tackle the problem by working on the formation of the team as well as the type of defense when playing against corner kicks.

“[The team] wanted to play a traditional 4-4-2 formation,” Oliveri said about one of the team’s improvements during the game.

Although the formation change has only been implemented against Hobart, Oliveri said he hopes the team will feel more comfortable playing in the formation.

The Knights can test out their new formation on Friday Sept. 27 against Buffalo State College and Saturday Sept. 28 against SUNY Fredonia.

Men's soccer struggles in Drew tournament

The Geneseo men’s soccer team opened the season up with the Drew University Men’s Soccer Fall Festival in Madison, N.J. Although the team did not achieve the results that it desired, head coach Dominic Oliveri said the team garnered some valuable experience. “This past weekend, we probably went to the toughest tournament we’ve been to in a long time,” Oliveri said. The Knights played against Johns Hopkins University and Haverford College, who Oliveri said are “both really strong clubs.”

Geneseo’s tournament campaign started on Friday Aug. 30 against Johns Hopkins with a 2-2 tie. Johns Hopkins senior Danny Reategui and Geneseo junior Richard Bellusci scored both of their teams’ respective goals. Sophomore goalie Logan Calvey saved three shots for the Knights.

Oliveri said that he was impressed with his team’s resolve despite starting the game with a goal down.

“Usually teams can’t get motivated when they’re a goal down, but this group came right back,” he said. “We tied the game 1-1, and it was really a competitive game from then on.”

The most important name of the game for Geneseo was Bellusci. The striker scored one unassisted goal and another assisted goal by midfielder senior Craig Schackner.

“[Bellusci] is one of those guys who comes off the bench for me who’s one of those really athletic guys,” Oliveri said. “He’s like a fireball for us.”

Despite the comeback effort from the Knights, they were still unable to come out with a win.

The Drew tournament continued on Saturday Aug. 31 against Haverford. Again, the Knights started off slowly when senior forward Ford Bohrmann scored the opening goal for Haverford. Geneseo answered with a goal of its own, scored by none other than Bellusci.

Despite balancing the game at one point apiece, the Knights were unable to hang on as Haverford scored two more goals before the final whistle.

“[Haverford was] a little better than Johns Hopkins. [The players] were technical and they liked getting the ball wide,” Oliveri said. “We struggled with that.”

The Knights bowed out of the tournament with a 0-1-1 start. Oliveri said the team needs to improve on its sluggish starts.

“It might have to do with personnel I’m choosing. But we’re not going to be able to afford, considering the schedule ahead of us, to take 25 to 30 minutes to get really emotionally involved in the game,” he said.

Oliveri also included defense as another aspect to improve upon.

“Our marking in the center of the pitch is lacking right now,” Oliveri said. “One-on-one defending down the flanks needs to improve too.”

The Knights head to Clarkson University Friday Sept. 6 and St. Lawrence University Saturday Sept. 7.

Oliveri said he expects the game against St. Lawrence to be a battle, since the Saints started the year as a top-25 Division III team.

“They’re a technical team that possesses the ball a lot, so it will be a big challenge on Saturday,” he said.