Men's Soccer | 11/2/2017 1:23:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 4 seed RIT (8-5-3) men's soccer team will head to Geneva, N.Y. to play No. 1 seed Hobart College (8-4-4) in the Liberty League Tournament semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. Cozzens Field on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game to face the winner between No. 2 Vassar (9-4-3) and No. 3 St. Lawrence (8-6-3) at 1 p.m.
RIT advanced to the semifinals on the strength of a 2-1 win over No. 5 Clarkson University in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
Simon Garno (Hilton, NY/Hilton) scored in the 78th minute to break a 1-1 tie off an assist from
Dean Kouroupas (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield).
Mark-Vincent Sansone (Hilton, NY/Aquinas Institute) tied the game with his goal in the 30th minute.
RIT enters Saturday as one of the hottest teams in the league. The Tigers are 6-0-2 in their last eight matches, including a four-game winning streak. RIT is the highest scoring team in the Liberty League, averaging 2.3 goals per game. The Tigers are eighth defensively allowing 1.38 goals per contest, and have outscored their opponents 37-22. RIT has scored 24 goals over its eight-game unbeaten streak.
Garno leads the team and is tied for second on the Liberty League in scoring with 18 points on three goals and 12 assists. He leads the league in assists and assists per game (.750). Kouroupas is second on the team in scoring with 17 points, and is tied for second in the conference with seven goals.
Anthony DeFeo (Rochester, NY/Hilton) is third on the team in scoring with 12 points on five goals and two assists.
Peter Cinibulk (Bellbrook, OH/Bellbrook) has played the majority of the minutes in net, posting an 8-5-3 record with two clean sheets. He is sixth in the league with a 1.37 goals against average.
Hobart enters Saturday ninth in the league in scoring, averaging 1.2 goals per game. The Statesmen are the top defensive team in the Liberty League, allowing 0.81 goals per contest. Hobart has outscored its opponents 19-13 this season, and is 4-2-0 over its last six games.
The Statesmen clinched the No. 1 seed in this year's tournament with a 2-1 overtime win over St. Lawrence two weeks ago. Adrian Colmenares tallied the game winner in the 105th minute. It was the eighth overtime game the Statesmen have played in this season, going 2-1-5 in those matches.
Hunter Critchlow leads Hobart in scoring with nine points on four goals and an assist. Derrick Acheampong, Colmenares and Ben Orr are among a group of six Statesmen tied for second on the team in scoring with four points. Acheampong, Colmenares and Orr each have two goals on the season. Colmenares and Patrick Schulz leads the team with two game winning goals. Alex Kaminer is 6-3-3 in net this season. He leads the Liberty League with a 0.79 goals against average and is fifth with a .800 save percentage.
Hobart is 25-19-4 all time versus RIT. The two teams played on Sept. 27 in Geneva, N.Y. with the Statesmen coming out with a 2-1 win in overtime. Orr scored the game winner in the 95th minute.
Jared Short (Grafton, WI/Cedarburg) tied the game at 1-1 with his goal in the 53rd minute. RIT's last win over Hobart came in 2011 in the Liberty League semifinal.
