CANTON, N.Y. – The No. 3 Ithaca College men's soccer team advanced to it's first-ever Liberty League final after defeating No. 2 RPI, 1-0, in overtime in Saturday afternoon's semifinal.
 
With just 3:01 left in the first overtime period, sophomore Jon Kyriakidis tipped the ball to junior Kevin Turi, who was there to fire off the game-winner from 30 yards out into the right side of the net.
 
With the victory, the Bombers are now 14-2-3 on the season. IC's 14 victories ties the program record for most wins in a season, which has happened three times before – 1986, 1996 and 1997.
 
Things started off slowly for the Bombers on the offensive end, as they only fired off two shots in the first half and five through the entire game.
 
The Engineers generated numerous offensive chances, but IC's defense held strong and came up with several big plays to keep RPI off the board.
 
In the first half, RPI registered its first corner kick just 2:51 in, leading to a Trevor Bisson shot that was saved by goalkeeper Max Lichtenstein.
 
The Bombers recorded their lone shot-on-goal of regulation at the 12:20 mark, when first-year Alex Leahy's shot was saved by Luke Brezak.
 
While IC only had one more shot in the first frame, the Engineers continued to test the Bombers' defense and Lichtenstein in goal.
 
Lichtenstein made two more saves in the first half, stopping shots from Austin Betterly in the 16^th minute and Billy Chissoe in the 20^th minute.
 
First-year Theo Scott fired off the final offensive chance for IC in the first half, sending a shot high in the 36^th minute.
 
With just over eight minutes left, the Bombers' defense came up with a block on Paul Silva's attempt, keeping RPI off the board heading into half time.
 
Out of the break, the Engineers continued their offensive push, getting off back-to-back shots in the 55^th minute. Dylan Confair's attempt was blocked by an Ithaca defender before Dan Graybill's shot sailed wide.
 
Turi had one of Ithaca's best chances of the day with just over 21 minutes left to play in regulation, but his shot narrowly missed as it flew over the goal.
 
With the clock winding down, the Engineers had two more solid chances, but Lichtenstein continued to make crucial plays for the Bombers. First, he made the play on a Tommaso Valagussa breakaway in the 80^th minute before closing out regulation with another stop in the 86^th minute on a Betterly shot.
 
Defender Tom Dillmann also registered a game-saving play with just over nine minutes left, as he saved a ball on the line with Lichtenstein out of the net
 
RPI had just one shot attempt in overtime, but Valagussa's ball was wide of the goal. That allowed the Bombers to head down to their offensive end where they earned a corner which eventually led to Turi's game-winner.
 
Turi's goal marks his third of the season, with two coming in the last three games. Kyriakidis also picked up his third assist on the play.
 
Statistically, RPI outshot the Bombers 14-5 while also registering seven corner kicks to IC's two.
 
In the net, Lichtenstein registered five saves while picking up his conference-leading 10^th shutout in 18 games.
 
Ithaca plays for it's first-ever Liberty League title tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. against top-seed St. Lawrence.