Courtesy of RITAthletics.com
ROCHESTER, NY — The RIT (5-5-3, 3-2-2 Liberty League) men’s soccer team equaled its season high with six goals on Saturday in a 6-1 win over Bard College (3-10-1, 0-5-1 Liberty League) in Liberty League action from Tiger Stadium. With the win, the Tigers moved into fourth place in the Liberty League standings and are riding a five-game unbeaten streak.
RIT scored five unanswered goals in the second half to snap a 1-1 tie. Shots were 27-2 in favor of the Tigers who took a season-high 18 corner kicks.
“I thought we played well in the first half,” said RIT head coach Bill Garno. “But, we were poor on a defensive sequence and did not finish the chances we had, and it was 1-1. To our team’s credit, we did not panic and found the quality we needed with three goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half.”
Simon Garno (Hilton, NY/Hilton) had a career-high five points on a goal and three assists, while Dean Kouroupas (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield)added three points on a goal and an assist. Jared Short (Grafton, WI/Cedarburg), Cam Shipley (Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili), Tyler Hatch(Concord, NH/Tilton School) and Matteo DeFeo (Hilton, NY/Hilton) also scored for RIT. It was DeFeo’s first collegiate goal.Gene Sicoli(Commack, NY/Commack) and David Koffi (Poughkeepsie, NY/Poughkeepsie) each had an assist, while Peter Cinibulk (Bellbrook, OH/Bellbrook) got the win in net for RIT.
John Flynn scored for the Raptors, while Jasper Shorter dished out an assist. Taylor Bond took the loss in net, making five saves.
Garno gave RIT a 1-0 lead on his goal in the 17th minute. Kouroupas sent a ball into the Bard penalty area that Garno gathered and fired past Bond for his first goal of the season.
Bard tied the game on a goal from Flynn in the 23rd minute off an assist from Jasper. Flynn scored on a well-placed shot from the top of the 18-yard box to tie the score.
That score remained until early in the second half when Short scored off the first of three consecutive Garno assists. Garno sent in a ball off a corner kick that Short was able to get a head to and direct into the net. Shipley made it 3-1, RIT with his goal off another corner from Garno in the 54th minute. Garno sent Kouroupas in alone with a pass in the 58th minute. Kouroupas dribbled around Bond and scored for his sixth goal of the season.
Hatch gave RIT a 5-1 lead on his goal in the 73rd minute off an assist from Sicoli, and DeFeo rounded out the scoring with his first collegiate goal in the 88th minute off an nice pass from Koffi.
“The guys coming off the bench did a great job today,” said Garno. “They sustained the level and helped put the game away.”
Today, the Tigers wore special burgundy jerseys to help build awareness of multiple myeloma and the efforts underway to help those afflicted with the disease.
“It was a great win for the team today in a game we used to bring awareness to the awful disease, Multiple Myeloma,” said Garno. “This was an important result for us against a team that can be very difficult to play.”
RIT is 3-0-2 in its last five games, outscoring its opponents 15-6 over that stretch. The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 25 when the Tigers host Liberty League rival Ithaca College at 3 p.m. on the grass at Tiger Stadium.
“Our league is very tough,” said Garno. “I am proud of how our team stuck after it through some difficult results earlier in the season against some very good teams.”
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