Poughkeepsie, NY – The Vassar College Men's Soccer team will make its sixth straight appearance in the Liberty League Championship on Tuesday when it travels to third seeded Ithaca for a First Round contest scheduled to kick-off at 2:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for those unable to attend the game.
At A Glance: The Brewers enter Tuesday's contest with an 8-5-4 overall record while finishing the league slate with a 4-3-2 mark. Vassar went 2-1 over the final three regular season games, including a 1-0 win at RIT to clinch a berth into the conference championship.
Senior
Owen Fauth (Keene, NH) leads the offensive attack for the Brewers, sitting in a three-way tie for the team lead in goals with six while pacing Vassar with eight assists and 20 points. Heading into Tuesday's tilt with the Bombers, Fauth is tied for fourth on the single-season assists list at Vassar and leads the Liberty League in both total assists and points.
Duncan Keker (Oakland, CA) and
Jared Fiske (Livingston, NJ) join Fauth with six goals apiece with Fiske, who tallied the deciding goal in Saturday win at RIT, pacing the team with three games winning markers.
Danny Berry (Haskell, NJ), who anchors a backline that is allowing just 1.06 goals per game, supports the offensive attack with three goals, two assists and eight points. First Year
Eli Torrey (Philadelphia, PA) along with senior
Kinlay Watkins (Berkeley, CA) have each scored twice, with
Kyle Lopes (El Dorado Hills, CA) and
Koray Tekin (Winter Park, FL) each chipping in two assists.
Charlie Rodhouse (Carmel Valley, CA) and
Brandon Liu (Seattle, WA) have joined Berry on the backline and have started all 17 contests to date while logging 1,530 and 1,383 minutes, respectively.
In goal,
Vasilis Ganasoulis (Glen Head, NY) has seen the bulk of playing time, seeing 1,256:47 of a possible 1,530:00. Ganasoulis has totaled 39 saves and posted four shutouts while working to an even 1.00 goals against average.
Vassar is tied for second in total goals in the conference with 31 and sits in a tie for third in goals allowed per game, surrendering just 1.06 per outing.
Scouting Ithaca: Ithaca earned the three seed in the conference championship after going 7-5-3 overall and 5-3-1 in conference play. The Bombers went 2-1-1 over their final four games, with the only blemish coming at Gordon Field on October 20.
Landon Hellwig leads the team in goals with three and points with seven, while Jared Krasnove ranks second on the team with five points on the strength of two goals and an assist. Six players sit in a tie for third with four points, including Gustav Bauerle, Alex Cabeca and Reefe Harrison who have each notched a goal and two helpers.
Johannes Berghahn has made 12 of the 15 starts in goal for the Bombers and has worked to a 1.24 goals against average and a .708 save percentage while turning aside 34 opponent shots.
Ithaca enters Tuesday's contest ranked eighth in the conference with 1.467 goals per game and fifth in the league in goals allowed, surrendering 1.07 per tilt.
Regular Season Recap: The Brewers and Bombers met on Gordon Field on October 20 with Vassar rallying for a 2-1 victory.
After falling behind 1-0 on a Jack Walker goal in the 50
th minute, Vassar struck twice just under 90 seconds apart to grab the lead. Berry evened the score with his third goal of the game at 80:02 before
Jackson Hall (Washington, DC) buried what proved to be the game winner at 81:27. Fauth assisted on both tallies for the Brewers.
Vassar outshot Ithaca 10-3 in the contest, including 4-1 on goal, and finished with a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
Recent History: Since 1999, the Brewers and Bombers have squared-off nine times prior to Tuesday's meeting with the all-time series as even as possible with Vassar owning a 4-4-1 record. The Brewers, however, have won three of the last four meetings, including each of the last two.
Recent Liberty League Championship History: Tuesday will mark the sixth straight season that a conference championship has been contested (no championship in 2020 due to Covid-19) that Vassar has qualified.
Vassar won the Liberty League crown in 2016 and returned to the final in 2017. The Brewers could not advance past the First Round the next three seasons and appeared in the semifinal round following a First Round bye in 2022.
What's At Stake: Tuesday's winner will move on to take on second seed Union on Friday, November 3 in Schenectady.
