FSU men fall to Geneseo, 2-1, in 2OT
Special to the OBSERVER
GENESEO — Fredonia would have settled for a tie Saturday in its SUNYAC men’s soccer road game at Geneseo. Instead, they sustained a tough 2-1 loss in the final seconds of double-overtime.
Bryan Wager scored with 34 seconds remaining when he beat Fredonia goalkeeper Ty Bentham with a one-on-one move. The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Geneseo improved to 4-3-1 and 1-1-0.
“To lose with 30 seconds left,” Blue Devil head coach P.J. Gondek said, “is a tough pill to swallow.”
Tougher still inasmuch the Blue Devils were close to salvaging a point after a 3-2 loss Friday at Brockport, a game in which they rallied furiously after digging a 1-0 hole.
Geneseo then gained the upper hand Saturday with a successful penalty kick by Alex Clar in the 66th minute. That deficit was erased on a header by Blue Devil freshman Sam Wagner off a cross by sophomore Matt Casey in the 80th minute. It was Wagner’s first collegiate goal.
Bentham had made 10 saves compared to five by Geneseo’s Dillon Medd prior to Wager’s game-winning tally, set up by a cross by Joey Vucic.
“It was a heartbreaker today,” Gondek said. “We expended a lot of energy yesterday trying to tie the game. When you do that you set yourself up for the game the next day. (But) to be tied at the end of regulation was a miracle considering what we were giving up defensively. Nevertheless, we were expecting to get at least a point.”
The Blue Devils are back in action Tuesday night when they visit John Carroll. Game time is 7 p.m.