SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The sixth-seeded Skidmore College men's soccer team saw its postseason run end in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament, falling to third-seeded Ithaca 1-0 at Higgins Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Thoroughbreds season ends at 9-6-3. Ithaca improves to 13-2-3 and will face No. 2 RPI in the semifinals of the league tournament, held at host and top seed St. Lawrence on Saturday.
 
Ithaca outshot the Thoroughbreds by a 12-8 margin and held a 5-3 advantage in shots on target. Both teams earned four corners.
 
Skidmore had a pair of great chances to take the lead in the first half. In the 12^th minute, Shoyo Yanagihara found Caples with a solid low through ball as Caples stayed onside and beat the last defender. Caples tried to go low on a charging Max Lichtenstein coming out of goal, but Lichtenstein just got a tip on the ball, as the Ithaca defense corralled the loose ball.
 
In the 27^th minute, Caples, coming up on the right wing, got by his defender and kicked a low cross past the Ithaca goalie and towards Stanley Langintuo at the far side of the net, but an Ithaca defender got to the ball and kicked it out of play.
 
In the second half, Ithaca turned up the offensive pressure, but the Thoroughbreds stayed tall to keep Ithaca off the scoreboard early on. Ithaca's best chance was in the 49^th minute, when Skidmore goalie Sebastian Bosch turned away a golden scoring opportunity from Jon Kyriakidis, diving to deflect the Ithaca attacker's shot from just left of the goal away from harm.
 
The pressure was too much for the Thoroughbreds, however, and Ithaca was able to get on the board in the 81^st minute. A short pass by Kevin Turi found Kevin Pierce, who hit his shot past Bosch into the high corner of the net.
 
The Thoroughbreds had a few opportunities in the final three minutes of the game, but were unable to get a shot off as the Bombers defense held firm.