Firebirds Men's Soccer Falls Short, 3-1 at NYIT

OLD WESTBURY, NY – Senior captain Mario Banegas (Political Science – Frederick, MD/Urbana HS) scored his first goal of the season late in the second half, but it was too little too late for the University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team as it dropped a 3-1 decision at East Coast Conference foe NYIT on Wednesday afternoon at President's Field.

The Firebirds (4-5-1, 1-3 ECC) have now lost five of their last six matches and fall to 0-3 on the road while NYIT, the defending ECC champions, improved to 5-4-1 overall and 2-2 in league play.

Matthew Jean-Baptiste led the Bears with two goals and Vinny Caccavale finished with two assists. Matt DiDonna, who took a game-high eight shots (five on goal), scored NYIT's other goal. NYIT out-shot District of Columbia, 25-11 for the day.

Jean-Baptiste, after firing a shot from point-blank range that sailed over the net near the 12-minute mark, notched the first of his two goals in the 15^th minute to give NYIT the 1-0 lead. The Bears continued to apply pressure offensively, taking six shots before DiDonna put home a cross from Caccavale for NYIT's second goal of the day just past the 31-minute mark. The Bears, who outshot the Firebirds 16-3 in the first half, led 2-0 at intermission.

District of Columbia played very aggressive offensively to start the second period, firing the first three shots of the half when play resumed after intermission. However, it was Jean-Baptiste who would tally his second goal of the day on the Bears' first shot of the half to give NYIT a commanding, 3-0 lead.

Still, the Firebirds showed no quit as sophomore Byron Brown (Accounting – Silver Spring, MD/Pocono Mountain HS) used his speed to get past a Bear defender on the right side of the field, then floated a cross into the box for a waiting Banegas, who fired past an unsuspecting Liam Waddy in goal to put District of Columbia on the board with 15 minutes left to play.

Neither team would score the rest of the way as NYIT held on for the 3-1 victory.

The Firebirds will look to bounce back on Saturday, October 6^th when they visit ECC foe Queens College. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.