Brockport, NY – The Golden Eagles defeated Geneseo in incredible fashion in the opening round of the SUNYAC Tournament. After remaining tied, 2-2, through 110:00 minutes of play, Brockport pulled out the win, 5-4, in an 8-round penalty kick shootout.
 
After Josh Fitzpatrick tied the tally at 4-4 in the seventh round of the shootout, Andrew Taylor made the biggest save of the season to start round eight. Taylor made the diving stop towards the lower-right corner on Tyler Axelsen's penalty kick attempt.
 
Up stepped junior and Brockport-native Nick Van Wie for the Golden Eagles with a chance to win it. Van Wie fooled the Geneseo keeper with a shot to the lower-left corner, sending Brockport back to the SUNYAC Semifinals for the first time since 2018.
 
Before the shootout the teams held each other scoreless in both 10-minute overtime periods. In regulation, Matthew Stefaniw came up with two nice goals. Brockport's leading scorer cashed in on a penalty kick chance in the first half in the 22^nd minute. Early in the second half we bent a shot around the wall of defenders on a free kick, scoring his second of the match.
 
Down by two goals, the visiting Knights began to turn up the intensity as time became more of a factor. They were awarded a penalty kick as well in the 82^nd minute, and Tyler Lewandowski put Geneseo on the board. Playing up a man on the pitch, Geneseo was then able to tie the game in the 86^th minute. Justin Arilotta scored a bicycle kick goal after a header ricocheted off the crossbar.
 
Goalkeeper Andrew Taylor came up with six big saves throughout the day, going the whole 90-minutes plus overtime and the penalty shootout. Geneseo keeper Vincent Maronski Jr. made one save in the contest and was relieved by Will Price for the shootout.
 
It was a physical and intense 110:00 minutes of play that featured a total of seven yellow cards and a pair of ejections. The match went to a shootout to put the result of the match in the hands of the goalkeepers.
 
In round one both Tyler Lewandowski and Matthew Stefaniw scored to start the show off, 1-1. Andrew Taylor was able to make a save against Maxwell Fiorica, while Dylan Rippe scored for Brockport to go up, 2-1.
 
Taylor would go back-to-back, this time stopping the shot from Liam Mulderig. Warren Banks also had his shot stopped by Will Price, keeping the tally at 2-1. Geneseo's Luke Bloom tied it up to start the next round, but Giovanni Cardona answered to keep Brockport ahead at 3-2.
 
Joe Vogt would come in clutch for the Knights to tie it up at 3-3. Jacob Wlostowski's shot was block by Price, as the shootout headed into a sixth round. Taylor and Price would come up with big stops on shots from Liam Mulholland and Brady Reinagle respectively.
 
In the seventh round, Justin Arilotta scored for Geneseo to put the pressure on the Green and Gold. The senior captain, Josh Fitzpatrick stepped up for the clutch goal to keep it tied at 4-4 in the shootout.
 
Then came the biggest save of the season so far, as Andrew Taylor made the diving stop on Axelsen's shot to start the eighth round. Nick Van Wie was also ready for the moment, scoring the game-clinching goal to give Brockport the, 5-4, shootout victory.
 
The Golden Eagles will now move on to the SUNYAC Semifinals for the first time since bringing home a SUNYAC Title in 2018. They travel to rematch the top-seeded Cortland Red Dragons on Wednesday, November 2^nd at 4pm.