BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – One day after the Geneva College women's soccer team stunned Franciscan's first-place women's team with a game-winning goal with three minutes to go, the men's soccer team did slightly better. The Golden Tornadoes got a goal from senior Antonio Fiordilino (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) with 18 seconds remaining to defeat the Barons 2-1 on a frigid Wednesday night. The victory improves Geneva's record to 7-3-6 overall, 4-1-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), and it closes the gap between Franciscan in the conference standings in the race for the #2 seed and the bye that comes with it. The Barons are now 11-3-2, 6-2 in the PAC.
Geneva controlled the play in the opening half, looking for an early goal after conceding first in its last four matches. It took a little while, but the Golden Tornadoes reversed that trend against the Barons. Freshman Caleb Thompson (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) made a nice pass into the box to freshman Gabe Singh (Valencia, Pa./Mars) in the 38th minute. Singh corralled the ball with his back to the goal, made a spin move, and then lasered one into the net from 10 yards away to give the Golden Tornadoes a 1-0 lead, which they maintained heading into the halftime break. It was Singh's first collegiate goal.
Franciscan came out on the attack in the second half and had the better of the chances, and that pressure eventually led to the equalizer in the 64th minute when Kolbe Rice got on the end on an attempted clearance and one-timed a shot inside the far post from just inside the top of the box, pulling the Barons level at 1-1.
The game began to open up at that point, with both teams looking stretched at times and both teams generating chances to find a game-winner. Senior goalkeeper Gabriel Kemp (Normalville, Pa./Connellsville) wasn't called on much in the game, but he came up huge with 11 minutes remaining when Franciscan's Mikey Irvin was put in on goal by a well-timed thru-pass, but Kemp made a diving finger-tip save, while also preventing a rebound by smothering the ball, to keep the game tied at 1-1.
Fiordilino looked to have scored a game-winner with seven minutes remaining, but his goal was waived off when the linesmen ruled he was offsides, though it appeared he had held up his run properly.
Fiordilino would make sure he would eventually get his game-winner, though, and in even more dramatic fashion. Geneva earned a corner kick with 30 seconds remaining. Freshman Wil Dunda (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) sprinted to the corner to take the kick, and the Golden Tornadoes once again came through on a set piece. Dunda's curving corner was momentarily pinned against the cross bar by Franciscan's goalie Jax Mautone, who was trying to gain possession of the ball, but the ball dropped to the ground right in front of an oncoming Fiordilino, who tapped the ball into the net with 18 seconds remaining, securing the dramatic 2-1 victory.
Geneva finished the game with a 17-12 advantage in shots, including a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. The Golden Tornadoes also held an 8-6 advantage in corner kicks.
"Franciscan is a strong team, and we have great respect for how their program plays," said Head Coach Gary Dunda. "I thought we played a really good first half, and then Franciscan, to their credit, made some nice adjustments in the second half that led to their goal. But I was really proud of the way our guys battled back after giving up the game-tying goal. We just kept pushing, and Gabe's save late was so huge. Our set pieces have been a really strong point for us this year, and Wil and Tony came through about as late as you possibly can."
Geneva has two games remaining in the regular season, including the final home regular season match on Saturday. The Golden Tornadoes will celebrate four seniors prior to their 7:00 p.m. matchup with Chatham. Geneva then finishes its season with a road game at Waynesburg on Wednesday. A win in either match would clinch a spot in the PAC playoffs while also setting Geneva up to potentially host a first-round playoff game. If the Golden Tornadoes want to jump ahead of Franciscan in the standings, Geneva will need to win out while having Franciscan either lose one of its two remaining games or tie them both. The top two seeds in the PAC playoffs get a bye in the first round. Grove City has already clinched the top seed in the playoffs.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva has one of the top 100 undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to
U.S. News and World Report. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
