ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's soccer team clinched a Liberty League playoff spot on Wednesday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over RIT behind a Jonathan Kyriakidis goal.
 
The Bombers are now 11-2-3 with a 4-2-2 mark in the Liberty League as they head into the final regular-season game against Vassar on Saturday.
 
Kyriakidis scored the game-winner in the 62^nd minute when he headed in the ball off a Thomas Pierce corner kick, past Will Sokol in goal. The goal marks Kyriakidis' team-leading fourth goal of the year while Pierce picks up his third assist of the season.
 
"This was an incredibly gutsy performance from our players today," said Head Coach Kyle Dezotell. "RIT is a well-coached team who came in off the back of multiple wins and was flying high. They gave us all we could handle in the first half but we held strong."
 
Ithaca had several solid chances prior to scoring, starting with a Nate Mansfield header at the 22:14 mark, but Sokol made a jumping save to punch the ball out of range.
 
The Bombers closed out the first half with back-to-back blocked shots from Ben Quatresols and Kyriakidis.
 
Goalkeeper Max Lichtenstein notched his first save of the game in the 33^rd minute, stopping a shot from RIT's Anthony DeFeo.
 
Ithaca had another scoring opportunity just 1:10 into the second half, when a penalty kick was called following a foul in the box. Nate Schoen's shot, however, was saved by a diving Sokol.
 
In the 56^th minute, RIT's Simon Garno ripped a shot that sailed wide before Lichtenstein came up with another save, this time of a Nate Verso attempt.
 
Prior to his goal, Kyriakidis tested Sokol once more in the 60^th minute, but Sokol stopped the shot. Kyriakidis would go on to give IC the 1-0 lead two minutes later, however.
 
The Bombers continued to push on the offensive end for the remainder of the game, looking to score a second goal to seal things up.
 
A shot from Justinian Michaels in the 70^th minute went over the goal before a shot from Duncan Schnur in the 77^th minute was saved by Sokol to send things the other way.
 
Sam Factor took a pass from Kyriakidis in the 81^st minute and drilled a shot, which sailed a few inches wide of the goal.
 
The Tigers' final shot on goal was in the 83^rd minute, but Lichtenstein made the play for his third save of the game.
 
With just three minutes left, Kyriakidis put one more chance on frame, with Sokol making the save.
"In the second half, I thought our guys dug deep and really played some great soccer for the first 30 minutes or so," said Dezotell. "We knew what was coming at the end with RIT fighting for their playoff lives but we were able to hold them off and clinch making the playoffs."
 
Statistically, Ithaca narrowly outshot RIT, 10-9 while also registering two more shots than the Tigeres. Lichtenstein finished the day with three saves while Sokol made five for RIT.
 
The Bombers close out the regular season with a 2 p.m. match on Saturday afternoon against Vassar, which currently sits a third in the Liberty League.
 
"While we're certainly going to enjoy this for a few hours, we will be straight back to work tomorrow in preparation for our Vassar match," said Dezotell. "We could still finish anywhere from second to fifth in the Liberty League so there is a lot of work left to do."