Men’s Soccer’s Season Ends in NEAC Quarters

The Keuka College men's soccer team fell to Lancaster Bible College 2-0 Tuesday afternoon in a NEAC quarterfinal game.

BOXSCORE

The Keuka College men’s soccer team saw its 2011 season end with a 2-0 home defeat to Lancaster Bible College in a playoff game Tuesday afternoon at the Jephson Community Athletic Complex.

The Storm (8-5-3), the fourth seed in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) postseason tournament, surrendered two own goals and saw its season end in the quarterfinals of the annual NEAC tournament to the fifth-seeded Chargers (10-9-2).

Lancaster, which lost to Keuka 2-1 at home on Oct. 20, threatened to take a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute, but junior goalie Derek Condon (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) made a diving save to his right to deny the 15-yard shot.

The Chargers got on the board in the 15th minute, scoring on an own goal. Freshman Austin Gerber (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) had a good look on goal from eight yards out halfway through the period, but his shot went wide of the goal as the Chargers took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

Freshman John Bourgeois (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) made a heads-up play early in the second to keep the score 1-0. Lancaster Bible had a player open along the left-side of the goal, and Condon came out to challenge his shot. When the pass went across the goal area, the Chargers had a player open along the far post, but Bourgeois wisely cleared the ball away from the goal.

In the 65th minute, the Chargers’ Richard Westerlund fired a shot from 15 yards out towards the near post, but Condon left his feet and made a diving save to again maintain the one-goal deficit.

Despite picking up the attack in the second half, the Storm was unable to create the equalizer, and the deficit grew to 2-0 on an own goal with 5:15 remaining.

Condon made eight saves in the loss for the Storm. He finished with an impressive 1.18 goals-against average after he allowed only 19 goals while making 145 saves in nearly 1,450 minutes on the field. Condon’s save total is the fifth-highest in a single season in Keuka history.

Despite the loss, the Storm clinched another winning season under seventh-year head coach Matt Tantalo. Keuka has never finished with a sub-.500 record in Tantalo’s Keuka career.