No. 11 Stevens Tech Downs Men's Soccer in Final Minutes

ELMIRA, NY- Fourth year midfielder Ryan Wilkison earned the game winning goal with only 5 minutes left to play in regulation to push the No. 11 Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks (6-0-2, 1-0 E8) over Men’s Soccer (1-4-1, 0-1 E8) this afternoon. Today’s match was the first meeting between these two programs, and was also the first Empire 8 conference game as well for both teams.

For the first 85 minutes of today’s conference game EC and Stevens Tech were in an offensive stalemate, with neither team being able to capitalize. The first half was a tough half for the Soaring Eagles, only recording one shot in the first 45 minutes. Stevens on the other hand applied a great deal of pressure through out the half, but with the combined efforts of Dane Bertha ’09 (Pittsburgh, PA -- Deer Lakes) and goalkeeper Jon DePrimo ’09 (Elmira, NY -- Southside) the Purple and Gold managed to keep the game at a 0-0 tie.

Bertha was also accredited with making a huge defensive stop with about 20 minutes left in the half. Stevens cleared the ball out of their defensive third, sending Bertha on a one on one foot race with a Stevens forward.  Bertha contained the player, and was able to strip him of the ball before the player could get the shot off.

Going into the second half of play, EC came out with a whole new intensity, and began to show that they truly wanted the victory. Unfortunately, Stevens’s defense was solid enough to keep the Soaring Eagles offense at bay for almost the entire half. As the match winded down the, physical play began to increase. With about 13 minutes left to play second year forward Brian Haschke ’10 (Pittsburgh, PA -- Deer Lakes) was issued a red card dropping the Soaring Eagles line to 10 men versus Stevens 11.

However, the best chance of the afternoon came right after the red card stoppage. EC was awarded an indirect kick right at the top of Steven’s goal box. Bertha stepped up to the ball and drove it just wide.

With less than 5 minutes left Wilkison was able to capitalize on a poor defensive clear, and drove the ball on a one time shot past DePrimo. The final minutes of the match did not go well for EC, now that Stevens had gain the upper hand. EC tried it’s best to regain possession, but the Ducks were able to move the ball and contain it in the corners draining valuable seconds off the clock until the final horn was sounded.

The Soaring Eagles will return to action this Wednesday, September 26th when they face Union College at 4 p.m. at Campus Field.

Stevens Tech 1, Elmira College 0
Box Score

#11 Stevens Tech (6-0-2, 1-0 E8)        0        1        --        1
Elmira College (1-4-1, 0-1 E8)             0         0       --         0

Scoring: S-Ryan Wilkison 84:27
Shots: S-15, E-2; Saves: S-Zach Carr 1, E-Jon DePrimo 6
Corner Kicks: S-3, E-1