October 10, 2006

GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart soccer team suffered its second loss of the season today, falling to Ithaca College 2-0. The seventh-ranked Statesmen drop to 11-2-0 overall, while the Bombers improve to 7-3-1.

Ithaca kicked off the scoring in the ninth minute of the game, when senior Hugo Valencia (Champlain Valley Union/Shelburne, Vt.) netted a goal off a header from junior Ryan Cole (Bishop Ludden/Liverpool, N.Y.). The whole play was initiated by a corner kick from senior Mark Jeffries (Brighton/Rochester, N.Y.). After several more scoring opportunities for both teams, the Bombers took the 1-0 lead into the break.

Valencia sparked Ithaca’s offense again 10 minutes into the second half, when he sent a lead pass to sophomore Kurt Odenbach (McQuaid Jesuit/Webster, N.Y.), who then scored on a one-on-one with Hobart goalkeeper Phil DaCosta (Manchester Memorial/Manchester, N.H.) to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

DaCosta recorded two saves on the day and now owns a 5-2-0 record, while sophomore Andy Wilhelm (Centennial/Ellicott City, Md.) tallied four stops for the Bombers.

Hobart will return to action on Oct. 14 when it travels to Nazareth for a non-league match at 1 p.m.