CORTLAND, NY – The nationally ninth-ranked Cortland men's soccer team played to a scoreless tie against nationally 21st-ranked Ithaca on Wednesday evening on Holloway Field. Cortland is now 5-1-1 on the year, while Ithaca is now 5-0-1.
Owen Brant (Loudonville/Shaker) led Cortland with two shots on goal, while
Jake Hutter (Smithtown/Smithtown West) and
Dylan Pederson (Earlswood, England/Reigate) each recorded one shot on target apiece.
Jordan Ott (Fort Worth, TX/Southwest Christian) made five saves in goal for the Red Dragons.
Bryson Shaull made four saves in goal for Ithaca, while Jack Carney led Ithaca with two shots on goal.
Ithaca had an early opportunity to take the lead in the sixth minute, but the Bombers had a goal disallowed due to offsides. At the other end a minute later,
Josh Carroll (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) had a shot blocked just in front of goal.
The Bombers had back-to-back shots on target in the 15th minute, the first shot by Carney was saved well by Ott going down to his knees and a follow-up attempt from Emmett Enriquez was saved comfortably by Ott.
After a fourth save of the game by Ott in the 20th minute, the Red Dragon defense held Ithaca without a shot on target for the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, Shaull made two saves late in the half to keep the game scoreless.
In the 76th minute,
Christian Napolitano (Massapequa) cleared a shot by Ithaca's Ikey Borden off the goal line to prevent the Bombers from taking the lead. Ott came out of his goal to make a strong punch on a crossing attempt to direct the ball out of danger in the 80th minute.
Ithaca's best opportunity to take the lead came in the 85th minute, when Carney cut to his right from just outside the 18-yard area, but his curling effort went just wide of the right post.
Cortland used a great build-up play between Carroll and Brant to create an excellent opportunity in the 86th minute, but Carroll's diving header after a cross from Brant went off to the left.
In the final seconds of the game, a scramble for the ball in the box resulted in a Cortland player falling to the ground. However, no foul or penalty kick was called by the referee. As the clock ran out, a scuffle ensued, leading to a red card at full-time for violent behavior by Carney.
