Jimmy Ritchie (East Aurora/East Aurora) celebrated Senior Day with three goals Saturday to carry Fredonia over Plattsburgh, 3-2, in SUNYAC men's soccer at University Stadium.
Ritchie scored in the 15th, 42nd, and 54th minute and the defense came up big in the final minutes as the Blue Devils improved to 4-3 in SUNYAC and 10-5-1 overall. On Monday, he was named the Men's Offensive Player of the Week by the State University of New York Athletic Conference.
Nick Economou and Alexis Archilla had goals for Plattsburgh, which fell to 2-4-1 in the conference and 9-5-1 overall.
Ty Bentham (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) made five saves -- four in the second half, including a game-saver with the scored tied late. Patrick Feeley had two saves for the Cardinals.
Fredonia took a 2-1 lead into halftime. Ritchie scored both goals, and nearly had a third, while Economou countered for Plattsburgh.
Ritchie's first goal came midway through the 15th minute. The play began beyond midfield with a pass from Noah Gittleman (Commack/Commack), a high ball to Ryan Keller (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora). Keller ran under the ball, settled it, and crossed to Ritchie in the midfield, whose hard strike opened the scoring. It was his fifth goal of the season.
Enonomou's goal -- his first of the season -- came early in the 40th minute off a corner kick from Max Delavalle. The latter sent the ball past the far post and Economou chipped the ball high on net. Bentham came out to defend but was unable to play the ball.
Plattsburgh's momentum was short-lived. Following a takedown in the box, Ritchie connected on a penalty kick at 41:30 as Fredonia re-gained its one-goal lead.
Ritchie completed his hattrick early in the 54th minute when he cleaned up a rebound in front of Feeley, who stopped one shot by Keller and had a second shot by Keller bang off the crossbar. It was Ritchie's team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Archilla scored on a penalty kick with 11:50 left, his sixth goal of the season.
In addition to Ritchie, eight other Fredonia seniors were recognized during a pre-game ceremony: Keller, Keith Braun (East Aurora/Iroquois), Parker Healy (East Aurora/East Aurora), Bryan Sibble (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse), Brian Theuerkauf (Lancaster/Lancaster), Brandon Butts (Schenevus/Charlotte Valley), Sammy DeFranks (Tonawanda/Kenmore West), and Sam Greco (Lockport/Lockport).
The Blue Devils close out the regular season on the road -- at New Paltz on Friday, at Oneonta on Saturday.
