Utica Erases Two-Goal Deficit to Tie RIT 2-2 in Men's Soccer
Rochester, N.Y.
The Utica College men’s soccer fell into an early 2-0 hole, but late goals from freshman Jonathan Peterson and junior Jonathan Wood helped the Pioneers earn a hard fought 2-2 tie, in Empire 8 Conference play at RIT Sunday. The Pioneers’ best start in program-history continues and they are now 7-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in conference play.
RIT’s Bret Dietz opened the scoring on the day when he netted a goal at 24:43 of the first half to give the Tiger’s a 1-0 lead early on. Just 2:15 into the second half Dan Holowaty added RIT’s second goal of the game and the Tiger’s felt confident in a 2-0 lead.
The Pioneers, who have been a great second half team all season, responded to the two goal deficit in the 58th minute when freshman Zach Wheeler connected with classmate Jon Peterson to cut the RIT lead in half, 2-1.
Jon Wood came off the bench and netted his second goal of the season in the 82nd minute to knot the contest at 2-2. Junior defender Shane Witteman> assisted on the game-tying goal. Both teams were unable to find the back of the net in the final eight minutes and the contest was sent to overtime.
20 minutes of overtime play was not enough to determine a winner and both teams earned one point for a tie.
Freshman goalie Anthony Caruso made four saves in net for Utica.