PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's soccer team felt a warm welcome home to Growney Stadium on Wednesday night when they propelled themselves to a season-opening 2-1 victory over the pursuing SUNY Geneseo Knights. The Cardinals begin their 2021 campaign at 1-0, promptly ending their six-game losing streak to the Knights, who fell to 0-1.
After Geneseo fired off three shots in the first ten minutes of the contest, Fisher capitalized on their first opportunity at the net which came in the 11th minute. Following a saved shot,
Ben Woolingham possessed the rebound and unleashed a shot of his own which struck the back of the opponent's net for his first goal of the season.
The two clubs traded chances in the form of corner kicks and fouls for the rest of the half as tensions boiled on the pitch, while Geneseo's shots outweighed Fisher's in the first 45 minutes, 9-5.
24 minutes into the second half, the Cardinals found themselves in another prime opportunity when a
Stephen Guidi corner kick sailed across the front of the cage and landed on the head of
Ryan Collins who found the foot of
Justin Bonetto, the 2020 Empire 8 Player of the Year, who sent a rocket through the teeth of the Knights' defense and past their keeper for Fisher's second goal of the night.
The second goal proved to be enough to hold off the Knights, who scored a goal of their own in the 84
th minute, but the effort was too little, too late.
While Woolingham and Bonetto put their name in the scorer's column on the evening, Guidi,
Jackson Bishop,
Brennan Brown,
Riley Rease, and
Dominic Tabechian all added a shot of their own.
Jadon Schlierf, the 2020 Empire 8 Goalkeeper of the Year, logged all 90 minutes in goal in his first win of the year and made five stops on Geneseo's 7 shots on goal.
Fisher gets back to work this Saturday, September 4th when they make the trip down to St. Davids, Pennsylvania for a 3 P.M. bout at Eastern University.
