The RPI men’s soccer team entered the last stretch of its season this week with a road game versus Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Wednesday, and a home finale on Saturday against Oneonta State. Head Coach Adam Clinton and crew were looking for positive feelings before they hung up the spikes for the winter.
On Wednesday in a mid-week match-up, MCLA drew first blood, scoring just 31 seconds into the game. A wild shot by sophomore Casey Baker bounced off an RPI defender and ricocheted into the net for the score to give the Trailblazers the 1-0 lead.
The Red Hawks looked impressive in the first half as well, outshooting MCLA 10-4 and owning the advantage in fouls, six compared to their opponents 11. RPI was able to tie it up on a penalty kick at the 40:35 mark. Senior captain Gary Sroka was taken down in the box by a Trailblazer, and capitalized on his scoring opportunity, blasting a shot home past MCLA freshman goalie Adam Tarsa to tie the game 1-1. That would be the score headed into the break.
In the second half, the Red Hawks came out firing away at MCLA. While they looked overwhelming, they were unable to break through and score a goal. The Trailblazers took their second lead at 67:25. Sophomore Kevin Duquette scored off a cross, heading the ball in for the goal.
The score would remain 2-1 as the clock approached the final 10 minutes of play. Rensselaer, though, soon kicked it into gear. Sroka scored his second goal of the game at the 80:49 mark, assisted by sophomore Michael Long, and tying the game up at two. Sophomore Sean Fleury scored at the 85:49 mark to give Rensselaer its first lead. Long picked up his second assist on the play. Then Sroka sealed the deal just over a minute later, tallying his third score of the game and pushing the Red Hawks to a 4-2 win, their seventh of the season. On the day, RPI outshot MCLA 23-9. Tarsa made 12 saves for the Trailblazers while senior Jeff Krywanczyk made two for Rensselaer.
On Saturday, it was another battle, one of many for the Rensselaer men this season. The first half ultimately amounted to no goal scoring. Oneonta looked on point in the first, putting five of its nine shot attempts on goal, but Krywanczyk was up to the challenge, stopping all of them. RPI had four shots in the first half but was unable to score on any of them, and it remained 0-0 at the half.
When play resumed, Sroka kicked off the action with a goal on a breakaway at the 64:11 mark to give the Red Hawks a 1-0 lead. It was short-lived, though, as the Red Dragons tied the game at the 68:52 mark when freshman Kyle Hoffer headed home a cross on a corner kick from senior Russell Skolnik.
At the end of regulation, the score was still 1-1, which meant another overtime match for RPI, the team’s fourth in seven games. Neither team scored in the first overtime period. Senior Michael Mahoney, though, was able to get the job done for Oneonta in the second extra period, scoring at the 101:09 mark and giving his team a 2-1 victory.
The end of that game brought an end to the regular season. The Red Hawks finished a strong year with a record of 7-6-4, 2-3-2 in the Liberty League. The young team made strides all season and really developed itself as a speed team.
It featured few upperclassman on the team at all times, and while not all the freshman were starters, they have big futures and can ease into their roles in the years to come. Sroka led the team with 27 points scored on 11 goals and five assists. Freshman Alex Penny and Krywanczyk split time in goal and both performed very well. All indications are that the Red Hawks are growing as a contender for years to come.
