Christine Lomb JUNIOR STENIO JOSEPH prepares to head a ball in the Blue and Gold’s 1-0 double-overtime loss to visiting Rochester Wednesday.

About as exciting as watching paint dry,” was the assessment of one Ithaca soccer fan, Ralph Hallett, of the first 90 minutes of the Bombers’ 1-0 double-overtime loss to visiting Rochester Wednesday.

The 115 scoreless minutes did little to sate the appetites of the restless crowd, as scattered cool breezes tickled the shaded bleachers. The short second overtime, however, provided all the excitement anyone needed.

“It’s the nature of overtime,” Ithaca coach Andy Byrne said. “That’s the way it goes.”

With 10 minutes 50 seconds left in the second overtime, Rochester’s sophomore backer Paul Lehmann, standing several inches above the players around him, fully extended to head the ball between the outstretched arm of sophomore goalie Glenn Palmieri and the crossbar. A mere 115:50 after the game had started, mere inches ended it.

“When it’s an even game, like today’s was, the luckier team wins,” said Rochester coach Mike Pilger, whose team has won all three of it’s games in overtime. “Today we were just the luckier team.”

Still, despite the crowd’s grumblings, the lone goal was not the game’s only eye-popping moment.

In a first half peppered with more injuries than scoring chances, both teams saw key players hobble off the field.

Rochester watched as two senior defenders went down in the first 10 minutes and did not return. Backers Sam Tasker and Matt Frank both suffered leg injuries that pushed inexperienced players into their lineup spots.

“We had two guys playing in the back, a freshman playing sweeper who never played there, and it kind of showed,” Pilger said. “Ithaca had some chances, but our guys did admirably just to hang in.”

Of course, for the veterans of the Ithaca-Rochester matchups, rough play is nothing new.

“Every year, Rochester is a physical game, we knew that coming in,” senior co-captain Ryan O’Connor said. He did, however, say that he was surprised by the number of injuries that occurred.

O’Connor was not just a bystander to body-banging. At the 8:15 mark of the first half, the senior went up to head a ball, but instead met a Rochester player. Freshman Brandon Laws’ head caught the back of O’Connor’s on the follow-through, knocking both players down, and O’Connor out.

“It hurt,” said the recovering Bomber, while admitting that he had a bit of a post-game headache. “I didn’t know where I was for about 10 minutes.”

Thirty-five minutes later, though, he knew and re-entered the game for the Blue and Gold. Still, the return of a captain was not enough to spark Ithaca, which wasted a nine-save performance by Palmieri.

On the Rochester side, freshmen Brian Minehan had been working on a solo shutout, but, as was the theme for the day, injury stopped his bid.

In the end, Minehan and Pete Schantz combined to help the undefeated Yellow Jackets to their third win on the season, a win that Pilger was quick to build up, estimating that it has been six years since they last beat Ithaca.

“No matter what you say, [our guys] know that this team has had our number,” he said. “It’s just a giant win. This is one of our biggest rivals.”

Ithaca travels to RIT on Saturday.