Men’s Soccer Defeats Utica 4-3 in Nail-Biter
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Men’s soccer defeated Utica 4-3 in a nail-biter on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Flyers are now 9-2-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the conference.
The first half was silent scoring-wise until the 31st minute of the game where Joey Weaverwas able to hit the back of the net off of an assist from Jake Pawlika.
A save from Liam Brandt allowed Nazareth to remain in the lead 1-0 going into the second half.
At 56:39, Utica tied up the game off of a corner-kick goal.
To answer, Drew Decker weaved around Utica’s defense to put up a goal just 33 seconds later to bring the lead back to Nazareth 2-1.
Another quick goal, this time by Utica, off of a header from a headed assist, tied the game back up at 2-2.
Utica took the lead 3-2 around nine minutes later with another goal in similar fashion. A throw-in connected with two different Utica players’ heads to hit the back of the net.
With around seven minutes left of game time, Braden Callahan booted the ball towards the Pioneers’ net from just over the midline. Gibson Spector redirected the kick with his head, and snuck the ball past Utica’s goalie to bring back a tie.
Less than two minutes later, Spector scored again, this time from Pawlika, who split three defenders with his pass.
The game concluded at a score of 4-3 in favor of the Golden Flyers.
The Golden Flyers will be back in action on October 23rd at 6 p.m. for another conference match-up against SUNY Poly.