Giovanni Garufi '22 went 1-1 with a 1.00 goals-against average and seven saves in a pair of starts between the sticks for the Elmira men’s soccer team last week. The first-year keeper began his week by limiting Medaille College – a 2017 NCAA Tournament qualifier that posted six goals against Penn State Altoona on October 7 and eight goals on Pitt-Greensburg on October 13 – to just a single goal in a narrow 1-0 loss. The only goal the Mustangs netted came on a first-half penalty kick, as Garufi made three stops in the second half to keep EC in the game.
On Saturday, the Binghamton, New York, native logged four saves in a 2-1 Empire 8 Conference win over Utica College on Campus Field. The victory was not only the first for the Soaring Eagles against an E8 team this fall, it kept the Purple and Gold in contention for a postseason berth with two conference games remaining. Garufi was under additional pressure in the net, as Elmira was forced to play with 10 players during the final 34:53 of regulation. He made two of his four stops in the final moments of the second half, with EC clinging to a late one-goal lead.
Garufi and the Soaring Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday, October 16, as Elmira welcomes WPI to Campus Field for a 3:00 p.m. non-league match.
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