ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 21 Ithaca College men's soccer team battled to a 2-2, double-overtime draw with No. 10 Cortland on Saturday afternoon.
 
In true Cortaca fashion, the game was a battle from the jump between IC and the Red Dragons.
 
"This was a classic 110 minute battle between two East region heavy weights," said Head Coach Kyle Dezotell. "It must have even incredibly exciting for the spectators. I thought each team could have scored four or five goals but the quality of the goalkeepers was incredible."
 
Both teams had chances out of the gate, as goalkeeper Max Lichtenstein was tested for the first time 2:10, on a header from Cortland's Nevin Nambiar. Lichtenstein made his first of a career-high 11 saves on the play.
 
The Bombers went on to have a chance of their own less than one minute later, but sophomore Thomas Pierce's attempted was saved by Cortland goalkeeper Sean Kelly.
 
In more back-and-forth action, Jake Keller sent a shot into Lichtenstein in the fifth minute, which was saved. Junior Drew Cohn followed that up with a shot in the sixth minute for IC, which was also saved.
 
Ithaca finally broke through for the first time 19:59 into action. Pierce made a hustle play to save the ball, and angled it into the goal to put IC up 1-0.
 
Both teams went on to have more scoring opportunities in the final 25 minutes of the first half, but none were successful.
 
Lichtenstein stopped a Keller shot in the 34^th minute, before sophomore Ali Kapasi put a shot on goal in the 37^th minute, which was saved by Kelly. The Bombers headed into the halftime break with a one-goal advantage.
 
Things progressed quickly in the opening minutes of the second half, as both teams added goals in the first five minutes.
 
Cortland scored the equalizer just 2:40 in. Cam LaVallee finished a pass from Ivan Dam to even things up, 1-1.
 
The Bombers quickly responded, however, scoring 1:18 later.
 
Sophomore Theo Scott scored his team-leading third goal of the season as he finished a forward pass from junior Jonathan Kyriakidis. The goal once again gave IC the one-goal edge.
 
For the next 35 minutes, things were a physical, but scoreless, battle between the two rivals.
 
Lichtenstein made a huge play on an Anthony Ruggiero ball in the 68^th minute to keep IC ahead. It then looked like the Bombers would take a 3-1 lead in the 71^st minute, as Max Barish had a great chance, but the ball sailed high.
 
Ultimately, Cortland scored the game-tying goal with just 7:42 left in the game. Michael Miner sent the ball towards goal where Jake Keller was there to finish the job and even the score.
 
As Cortland continued to press the Ithaca defense as regulation wound down, Lichtenstein came up with two big saves off a header and a shot from Ivan Dam, to send the game into overtime.
 
The Red Dragons put a lot of pressure on Ithaca in the first overtime period, forcing Lichtenstein to make three saves in the 10 minutes.
 
First, he stopped a header from Ruggiero 2:23 into play. He then made the play on a Jake Keller attempted in the 95^th minute and stopped a Nick Pfeiffer ball with just 49 seconds left to force a second overtime.
 
The Bombers put one more shot on goal in the second overtime, but a solid attempt from Kapasi was saved by Kelly.
 
In the final minute, Cortland had a good chance, but Dam's shot hit off the post and was cleared by IC's defense.
 
"Cortland is one of the top teams in the country and we head them on the ropes with ten minutes left," said Dezotell. "I give them a lot of credit for fighting back to tie it late. We give our guys a ton of credit for not backing down to the No. 10 team in the country and for giving everything we had for 110 minutes."
 
The Bombers are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Alfred University for a 7 p.m. non-conference match. Ithaca returns home next Saturday, September 28 for the first of a three-game homestand. IC opens Liberty League play with a 2 p.m. match against Bard.