| 11/3/2004 3:48:00 PM
Click here for game statistics
ITHACA, NY - The RIT men's soccer team, led by a goal from leading scorer Mark Frisicano (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) and timely defense, knocked off top-seeded, and nationally ranked Ithaca College 1-0 today at Carp Wood Field to advance to the Empire 8 Championship on Saturday.
Frisicano scored the game's lone goal in the 36th minute. He won a loose ball from an Ithaca defender, took a few steps inside the penalty area, and riffled a left-footed shot just inside the right post for his seventh goal of the 2004 season.
Less than five minutes into the game, senior defender Dan Beca (Canandaigua, NY/Candandaigua Academy) (Canadaigua, NY/Canadaigua Academy) kept the game scoreless by sweeping an Ithaca shot of the goal line.
The Tigers put-shot the Bombers 10-5 in the first half, but in the second, Ithaca gave the Tigers all they could handle, out-shooting RIT 13-4 and coming close to netting the equalizer on a few occassions.
Senior midfielder Abe Zwirn (Berwick, ME/Noble) (Berwick, ME/Berwick) made two dramatic defense plays, twice sweeping potential Ithaca shots away from the open net. With a little more than 20 minutes left, he headed a shot off of an Ithaca corner kick that was marked for the top left corner of the net out of harm's way. Then with 58 seconds left in regulation, he stopped a bicycle kick attempt by Ithaca's Ben Visnyei that appeared to be heading into the same corner of the net.
Frisicano almost made it 2-0 late in the second half. He fired a shot from about 20 yards out that was marked for the upper left hand corner, but Bombers goalkeeper Ted Meyer, made a tremendous diving save to keep the score 1-0 Tigers.
Ithaca, ranked 15th in the nation, out-shot RIT 18-14. Meyer made three saves for Ithaca, while Tiger goalkeeper Nate Andrews (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) (Rochester, NY/Spencerport) finished with seven saves to earn his eighth win of the season.
The Tigers snapped Ithaca's season long home unbeaten streak. In addition, this was the first conference game that Ithaca lost in regulation since September 29, 2001. The Bombers won the Empire 8 championship in 2001 and 2002, while falling to Alfred in penalty kicks in the conference semi-final a year ago.
RIT (8-7-1) will travel to play cross-town rival St. John Fisher at Growney Stadium on Saturday in the Empire 8 conference final at 1 p.m. The second-seeded Cardinals defated #3 Alfred University 4-3 in overtime in the other Empire 8 semi-final. The winner of Saturday's match receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
