BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Ithaca College men's soccer team remained unbeaten on the season, cruising to a 3-0 road win over Moravian University at John Makuvek Field on Saturday, September 19. The victory improves the Bombers to 5-0-1 on the year.
Ithaca did all its damage in a dominant first half, scoring three times in a span of just under 21 minutes to put the game away early and leave Moravian playing catch-up for the rest of the afternoon.
The Bombers broke the deadlock first, as midfielder
Noah Partenza buried an unassisted strike for his second goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Ithaca doubled its advantage barely three minutes later, in the 20th minute, when defender
Nick Dignazio found the net off a feed from forward
Jack Carney for his third career goal and second of the season.
The Bombers capped the first-half onslaught in the 38th minute when forward
Emile Antoine stepped up and converted a penalty kick to make it 3-0 heading into halftime. It was Antoine's first goal of the season.
Moravian's defense settled down after the break and managed to keep the Greyhounds off the board the rest of the way, but with a three-goal cushion already in hand, Ithaca controlled the tempo and saw out the result.
The second half finished scoreless, and the Bombers' back line and goalkeeping duo did the rest to close out the clean sheet.
Statistically, Ithaca controlled play from start to finish, outshooting Moravian 18-9 for the match and holding a commanding 10-4 edge in shots on goal. Partenza led all players with three shots on goal, while
Gabriel Robinson and
Jack Nelson also chipped in offensively for the Bombers.
In net,
Brayden Milbrandt picked up the win for Ithaca, turning away all four shots he faced across the full 90 minutes to preserve the shutout.
For Moravian, the goalkeeping duties were split between two netminders. Peter Louvaris took the loss after allowing three goals on seven shots on goal in 45 minutes of work, while Joey Varano came on for the second half and made three saves on three shots to keep the deficit from growing further.
Giuseppe Propato and Colin Woehlcke each managed multiple shots for the Greyhounds but were unable to find a way past Milbrandt.
The two sides were relatively even in corner kicks, with Ithaca holding a slim 6-5 edge. The Bombers were whistled for 19 fouls compared to Moravian's 12.
C.J. Abbott was cautioned in the 52nd minute, while Moravian picked up back-to-back yellow cards late, with Aidan McMillan booked in the 61st minute and Rafi Sanjuan following in the 80th.
The Bombers will look for a quick turnaround when they face Oswego State tomorrow at Butterfield Stadium for a 1 p.m. contest.
