SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – For the first time since 2015, the Union College men's soccer team has qualified for the Liberty League Tournament, and the second-seeded Garnet Chargers have earned their first ever bye into the semifinals, set to host third-seeded Ithaca College on Friday at 4 PM.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live video and live stats will be available for Friday's match, the first playoff match at College Park Field for the men's soccer program since 2010.
THE TEAMS: Union (8-6-4, 5-2-2 Liberty League) is seeded second in the Liberty League Tournament, and will face off with third-seeded Ithaca (8-5-3, 5-3-1 Liberty League) in the semifinals after their victory over sixth-seeded Vassar (8-6-4, 4-3-2 Liberty League) in the quarters. Hobart (10-5-2, 7-1-1 Liberty League) earned the top seed and will host fifth-seeded Rensselaer (9-6-2, 5-4 Liberty League) in the semifinals after their victory over fourth-seeded St. Lawrence (7-6-4, 5-3-1 Liberty League) in the first round.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its ninth appearance in the Liberty League Tournament and first since 2015, which finished a stretch of six postseason berths in nine years for the program. The Garnet Chargers are still searching for their first conference championship after making three appearances in the final, and currently hold a 2-9-2 record in Liberty League Tournament history, including one win and one loss in penalty kicks.
UNION VS. ITHACA: Union and Ithaca have met 10 times in series history, with Ithaca holding a 7-3 advantage all-time. Union won the first two meetings, in 1985 and 1991, before Ithaca won the next seven meetings. Union won the most recent meeting in dramatic fashion, a 2-1 victory over the Bombers thanks to a 67th minute goal from first-year Noah Goldstein.
LAST MEETING: The two sides faced off at College Park Field in mid-October, a 2-1 victory for Union that completed four-game win and six-game unbeaten streaks. Senior Kurt Mahlke opened the scoring just before halftime, rebounding a Christian Rufo header home to give the Garnet Chargers the lead. Ithaca tied the game up in the 59th minute before Goldstein sent the winning header into the back of the net less than eight minutes later for his first collegiate goal. First-year goalkeeper Paul Agne set a career-high with eight saves in the contest.
ABOUT UNION: The Garnet Chargers finished the regular season with an 8-6-4 record and a 5-2-2 mark in the Liberty League to place second, a three-win improvement in both conference play and overall from last season under second-year head coach Matt Brown. The team reached the eight-win mark for the first time since 2019 and won five games in conference play for the first time since 2012. The program has now won eight or more games 19 times since 2000.
FIRST-YEAR PHENOMS: Leading the way for Union on each side of the ball in 2023 have been first-years. Midfielder Marco Perugini leads the Garnet Chargers with six goals and 15 points, both tops amongst all first-years in the Liberty League, while goalkeeper Paul Agne has stopped nearly 80% of the shots he's faced and allowed less than one goal per game in net, both top-three marks in the conference and best amongst all first-years.
OFFENSIVE MINDED: Union is at or towards the top of the Liberty League in a number of offensive statistics, including goals (32, second), assists (26, second), points (90, third), scoring margin (0.72, first), shots (229, first), and shots on goal (102, third). Perugini is one off the tops of the league in goals with his six, and tied for seventh-most in the league with 15 points. Senior Robbie Michalski is right behind him in both categories with five goals and 13 points of his own, while junior Wyatt Goldfisher's four goals and two assists also saw him reach the double-digit point mark in 2023.
CALL ON ME: Union has had five players- first-year Luke Ingber, Mahlke, Rufo, junior Alan Daniel, and sophomore Grant Della Rocca- play in all 18 games this season. Another five played in 17 of the 18, while another five playing in 15 or more have provided a solid core for Brown and his staff to rely on throughout the season. A perfect 11 played all nine conference games.
ROOKIE REWARDS: Agne, Goldstein, and Perugini have combined for five of the nine Rookie of the Week honors given out by the Liberty League this season, including a three-week stretch from September 18th to October 2nd where Perugini picked up his first two awards and Agne got his first league recognition. Goldstein was selected two weeks later after his game-winning goal against Ithaca, and Perugini grabbed the final nomination this past week when Agne was selected as the league's Defensive Player of the Week. The five ROW selections is more than the program has earned in the last six seasons combined, and Agne's upgraded recognition is Union's first DPOW in over six years.
ABOUT THE BOMBERS: Ithaca finished the regular season with a 7-5-3 overall record and a 5-3-1 conference record to finish in a tie for third place with St. Lawrence, one point back of Union in second. Ithaca is tied for sixth in the league with 24 goals on the season, but Ithaca has the third-best defense, having allowed just 17 goals to opponents. Leading the way offensively for the Bombers are junior defenseman Landon Hellwig and sophomore forward Jared Krasnove, each with seven points, followed by eight Bombers with four points each. Sophomore Johannes Berghahn has seen the bulk of the time in Ithaca's net this season, making 37 saves across his 13 starts.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Union-Ithaca winner will advance to the Liberty League Tournament championship game on Sunday, facing off against the winner of Hobart-Rensselaer for the Liberty League crown.
2023 Liberty League Tournament
First Round – Tuesday, October 31, 2023
#6 Vassar at #3 Ithaca, 2:30 PM
#5 Rensselaer at #4 St. Lawrence, 2:30 PM
Semifinal Round – Friday, November 3, 2023
#5 Rensselaer at #1 Hobart, 2:30 PM
#3 Ithaca at #2 Union, 4:00 PM
Championship Game – Sunday, November 5, 2023
Semifinal Winners at Highest Remaining Seed
