SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The magic on the South Hill continued as the Ithaca College men's soccer team continued their incredible postseason run by advancing past the Union College Garnet Chargers in the Liberty League semifinals. This thriller of a battle required penalty kicks where the Bombers prevailed, 5-4, after a scoreless 110 minutes of action. Ithaca moves on to the Liberty League Final, where they will face the No. 1 seed, the Hobart Statesmen, on Sunday in Geneva at 1:30 p.m.
This instant classic was a nail-biter from start to finish, as both teams played a hard-fought game. It was the Union offense that got things started first as Marco Perugini put one on goal that had to be turned aside by
Johannes Berghahn. Ithaca's
Brendan Lebitsch was able to respond as he put a tester on net that was stopped by Union goalkeeper Paul Agne. The first half came to an end after a defensive battle yielded a 0-0 score.
The second half was another defensive battle, but there were a couple of offensive chances for both teams. Union once again got things rolling as they had a corner kick that resulted in a shot on goal for Christian Rufo that was turned aside by Ithaca's Berghahn. Union made a goalkeeper change early in the second half and Sean Speck made a couple of key saves on
Jared Krasnove and
Thaib Abidi to keep the game scoreless. After 90 minutes of intense action, this thriller needed extra periods to decide a winner.
The first overtime didn't have too much action as neither team wanted to give an inch. Each team had a couple of shot attempts but neither was able to truly threaten to score.
In the second overtime, it was much of the same. These teams were determined to move on to the championship game, so the contest headed to penalty kicks.
Abidi got things started connecting first for Ithaca giving them the 1-0 lead. Both teams traded goals until the fourth round when it was all tied up, 4-4. In Round 5, it was Gustav Baurle who was put to the test, and he didn't disappoint, placing his shot in the corner. Noah Goldstein was now up for Union and his shot went wide securing the advancement for Ithaca.
