Firebirds Men’s Soccer Soars Past Felician, 3-0 in Season Home Finale

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team earned a decisive 3-0 victory over non-conference foe Felician College in its season home finale on Friday afternoon.

"It was definitely nice to finish our home season with a win - I think we deserved it," head coach Matt Thompson said. "We're trying to build for the future here as we finish up our season, and I feel as though we're finishing strong. It would certainly be great to end the season on a positive note and get our first win on the road on Sunday."

The Firebirds improved to 6-8-2 overall with the win while finishing with a 5-2 record at home this season. Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons dropped their fourth straight to finish their 2012 season 5-10-2.

District of Columbia was led by the tandem of senior Adriel Garcia (Physical Education – Sau Paulo, Brazil/Anglo Campinas) and sophomore Ben Diaz (Education – Silver Spring, MD/Northwood HS).  Each scored one goal and assisted on two to finish with four points apiece.

Garcia took a feed from Diaz on a Firebird breakaway and scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season for the game's opening goal in the 22^nd minute of action. Both teams went scoreless for the remaining 23 minutes as District of Columbia took a 1-0 lead into intermission.

Just over 20 minutes into the second stanza, Garcia and Diaz executed another breakaway to perfection – this time, Garcia feeding Diaz for his second goal of the year to give the Firebirds a two-goal cushion.

Freshman Moussa Traore (Psychology – Silver Spring, MD/John F. Kennedy HS) added a goal for good measure with under a minute left in regulation after some pretty passing yet again by Diaz and Garcia. With that goal, the Firebirds would go on to win by a count of 3-0.

Freshman Risheq Waleed (Greensboro, NC/Freedom HS) made his first start in goal for District of Columbia and picked up his first complete game victory with one save. Felician's Daniel Wroblewski stopped two shots and allowed three goals in a losing effort.

The Firebirds travel to Rochester, NY to visit ECC newcomer Roberts Wesleyan in their 2012 season finale on Sunday, October 28^th at 2 p.m.