Jake McGowan (20) defends a Knight at the Field House Oct. 21.
By Mikai Bruce
The Plattsburgh Cardinals men’s soccer team suffered a crushing 0-1 defeat at the hands of the Geneseo Knights in its penultimate game of the season. This game had major implications for the Cardinals. The Cardinals needed to win this game in order to punch its ticket to the playoffs, but it was unable to do either. This leaves the Cards out of the playoffs and with a finished season, at 7-3-6, 2-3-4.
This was the final time Plattsburgh played Geneseo in-conference after Geneseo announced its departure from the SUNYAC.
The Knights left the Cardinals with a spoiled season.
This game was during a heavy rain that foreshadowed what was yet to come at the conclusion of this contest. This bout was as physical as a soccer game can be. Players were bumping into each other as they went stride for stride down the field. They were slide-kicking each other throughout the game, and the teams were being rough on each other.
In the first half of the game, both teams were playing at a pretty controlled pace. Geneseo took four shots in the first half while Plattsburgh took merely three shots, so the time to create chances in the first half was essentially wasted.
Defender Christian Gardner (17) defends Geneseo’s Dylan Thody (10) as the Knights advance at the Field House Oct. 21.
“I think overall we could’ve been better in every aspect but I think offensively we could’ve created more chances and got more shots,” junior goalkeeper Teddy Healy said.
Overall, Plattsburgh did lead in shots 11-7. That’s not a lot of shots, especially for a team that needed to win to get into the playoffs.
“We just didn’t create enough chances, unfortunately,” Head Coach Chris Taylor said.
In the second half, after getting two corner kicks in a row, SUNY Geneseo was able to knock in a goal which gave them a 1-0 lead. After this, SUNY Plattsburgh really turned up the aggression. It had five shots in the last 15 minutes. It wasn’t enough.
“We could have done a lot better creating the type of goal-scoring chances that we’d been creating the majority of the season,” first-year forward Xavier Kamba said.
The Cardinals missing out on the playoffs is somewhat of a shock, when it looked so dominant to begin the season. They began the season with five wins and one tie and making the playoffs seemed to be a given — but it wasn’t. But this game was not a given. After allowing four ties against conference teams, it couldn’t get a leg up against the conference.
After the final buzzer sounded and the reality of the loss kicked in, the mood of the team was sour. There was a feeling of sadness and despair in the air that was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Cardinal players all over the field were distraught and verbally and visually expressed their frustration with the outcome of the game, truly showing how much passion they have for this game.
