Freshmen Fuel Firebirds’ 2-1 Season Finale Win at Roberts Wesleyan

ROCHESTER, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team earned a 2-1 victory over East Coast Conference foe Roberts Wesleyan College in its season finale Saturday afternoon at RWC Soccer Stadium.

The Firebirds (5-11-1, 4-4-1 ECC) were lifted to victory by freshman midfielder Benhur Gebretsanie's game-winning goal in the 73^rd minute. Freshman forward Malik Thom and freshman midfielder Gabriel Torres were credited with assists on the play.

UDC initially jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick goal by Torres, but the Redhawks (2-7) tied the score just before the 30-minute mark on a goal by Malcolm Shaw.

Freshman goalkeeper Joao Brusamolin made two saves and allowed just one goal in a complete game victory for UDC.  RWC's John Ciavaglia stopped three shots and allowed two goals in the loss.

This game concludes the 2016 UDC men's soccer season. The Firebirds end the year tied with 4^th place ECC finisher, St. Thomas Aquinas at 13 points in the standings. The Firebirds and Spartans tied in their head-to-head match-up, so the next tiebreaker is the results of each team against the rest of the conference opponents in descending order. STAC wins that tiebreaker courtesy of a 2-2 tie vs. 2^nd place NYIT (in a game that had no overtime due to darkness), and the Firebirds were defeated by NYIT.

Torres finished an impressive rookie campaign with a team-leading 19 points on eight goals and three assists. The Firebirds' top three scorers this season are all freshman: Torres, Gebretsanie (8 pts, 4 goals) and Thom (7 pts, 2 goals, 3 assists).