Steven's Soccer Completes Second-Straight Perfect E8 Season
Saturday, October 27, 2012
ITHACA, N.Y. (October 27, 2012) – Freshman Joe Cellitti (Mendham, N.J.) scored both goals in the No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology men’s soccer team’s 2-0 toppling of Ithaca College (7-5-4) on Saturday afternoon. It was the final game of the regular season. With the blanking of the Bombers, the Ducks (15-2) will head to the Empire 8 Tournament riding a 13-game winning streak and a string of five-consecutive shutouts.
Ithaca played well at the start and did not allow a Stevens shot over the first 20 minutes. In that time, the Bombers tested Stevens goalie Paul Killian (Ellicott City, Md.) twice but the junior netminder was able to keep both tries out of the cage.
It was Quinn Conner (Newfields, N.H.) who finally gave the Ducks their first shot of the afternoon, and Cellitti had the next attempt seven minutes later.
With 33 minutes gone in the first half, Cellitti found paydirt when a ball bounced off the far post and came to the freshman. Cellitti wasted no time re-directing the ball into the net for his fifth goal of the year.
The sides combined for just one more shot in the first half, and the teams went to the locker rooms tied at three shots apiece.
The second goal of the afternoon came at the 71:27 mark. Senior Zach Adler (McKinney, Texas) - who returned Saturday from a two-week injury – had re-entered the match just two minutes prior and set up Cellitti again for the insurance goal that put the Ducks up by two.
For the game, the Bombers actually outshot the Ducks by a 9-6 margin, and but only put four shots on goal to Stevens’ six. Ithaca also took all of the corner kicks in the match, but the Ducks scored all the day’s goals to earn the season-ending victory.
The Ducks will host the winner of the Elmira College-Utica College match taking place later on Saturday in the Empire 8 Semifinal at the DeBaun Athletic Complex on Friday at 4 p.m.
