ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore Theo Scott netted a goal with less than seven minutes remaining to give the Ithaca College men's soccer team a 1-0 win over No. 8/12 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), on Saturday afternoon at Carp Wood Field.
 
With the win, the Bombers improve to 12-4-2 overall and 5-3-1 in Liberty League play. It was just the second loss of the season for RPI and the first in conference play as the Engineers are now 14-2-2 overall and 6-1-2 in the Liberty League. The Bombers also ended a 15-game RPI unbeaten streak, dating back to August 31.
 
The Bombers receive the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Liberty League Tournament and will travel to No. 4 Clarkson on Tuesday for a quarterfinal match.
 
After nearly 84 minutes of scoreless play the Bombers finally broke through as senior Kevin Turi crossed the ball and Scott fired it into left corner of the net to give IC the edge and score his team-high seventh goal of the season. From there, Ithaca's defense stood strong against the Engineers to keep them off the board.
 
Prior to scoring Ithaca had a plethora of chances, as the Bomber outshot RPI, 18-3. IC also had eight shots on goal to the Engineers' none.
 
Ithaca's first chance of the day came in the 11th minute, as senior Max Barish fired off a shot which was saved by RPI goalkeeper Matt LaBranche. Senior Zack Lichtman then had a chance in the 22nd minute, which was also saved by LaBranche.
 
IC had a promising offensive play in the 27th minute, as Tom Dillmann put in a corner kick and Colin Shust registered a shot, but once again LaBranche came up with the stop.
 
A shot from first-year Aidan Keenan in the 44th minute was blocked by an Engineers' defender before a header from Scott with just one second remaining in the half was saved by LaBranche.
 
It looked like Ithaca would nearly score in the 73rd minute after a lot of action inside the box. A shot from Scott hit the post and bounced back to him. He got another shot off which was blocked by an RPI defender before Daniel Swanson ripped a shot that hit the crossbar.
 
The Bombers head to Clarkson on Tuesday, November 5 (4pm) for a quarterfinal match. The winner of that game moves on to next Saturday's semifinal game against top-seeded RPI (4pm).