| 11/10/2004 3:23:54 PM

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GENESEO, NY - The RIT Men's Soccer team ended its season this afternoon with a 1-0 loss to SUNY Geneseo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Jim Felluca (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili) scored the game's lone goal in the 48th minute.  Geneseo attempted a corner kick which was punched to the outside by RIT goalkeeper Nate Andrews (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia).  The ball was collected by the Knight's Matt Robinson (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) who calmly fed the ball to Felluca, whose 20 yard chip shot barely eluded Andrews, bouncing off the crossbar and into the net.

RIT turned on the pressure after the goal, but could not get the equalizer.  Senior midfielder Abe Zwirn (Berwick, ME/Noble) (Berwick, ME/Noble) had RIT's best chance, but his blast from about 15 yards out with about 30:20 remaining was headed off the line by David Fink (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawnda) of Geneseo.  Six minutes later, freshman Andrew Ong (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia/ISKL) (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia/ISKL) ripped a blast from about 20 yards out that struck the crossbar and bounced away. 

Junior defender Gavin Thomas (Ontario, NY/Wayne Central) (Ontario, NY/Wayne) had RIT's best scoring chance in the first half, heading a cross from Michael Lawson (Wall, NJ/Wall) (Wall, NJ/Wall) on a corner kick off the crossbar, in the final minute.

Lawson, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year earlier in the day, was a factor all day, leading the Tigers with six shots, including three on goal.

Andrews finished with one save for the Tigers.  Senior goalkeeper Chris Stock (Penfield, NY/Penfield) made five saves for the Blue Knights.

RIT out-shot the Blue Knights 19-9, and controlled the play for the majority of the contest.

The Tigers are now 20-13-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament in 14 attempts.   

Geneseo (14-4-2) will travel to play Keene St. (NH) in Saturday's second round.  RIT finishes its season with a mark of 9-8-1.  The Tigers were the second consecutive #4 seed to win the Empire 8 conference and earn an automatic bid to the tournament.