Firebirds Soar Past Daemen, 4-1
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dist. Columbia (12-4, 6-2 ECC) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
|
Daemen (6-10, 2-6 ECC) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
AMHERST, NY – After a scoreless first half, the University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team erupted for four goals in the second half en route to a 4-1 win over host Daemen College in East Coast Conference play Saturday afternoon at Karrer Field.
The already ECC playoff-bound Firebirds improved to 12-4 overall and 6-2 in league play, setting a program record for conference wins in a season with today's victory. Daemen fell to 6-10 overall and 2-6 in the ECC.
Senior forward Raphael Pacano registered his 7th and 8th goals of the season, sophomore midfielder Gabriel Torres added a goal and an assist, and junior forward Kevin Ortez pitched in with his 3rd goal of the season as well. Torres, who entered the week 3rd in Division II for points per-game and 2nd in goals per-game, now has 19 goals and nine assists this season.
UDC out-shot the Wildcats 12-4 and took five corner kicks to Daemen's zero in the first half, but four saves by starting Wildcat goalkeeper Mike D'Amato kept it a scoreless tie at halftime.
Just shy of six minutes into the second half, Pacano broke the scoreless tie when he followed his own shot that hit the crossbar after a failed clear. About eight minutes later, Torres scored off of an assist by sophomore midfielder Jason Mayorga to put UDC in front, 2-0.
Pacano would then add the Firebirds' third goal of the game in the 68th minute off of an assist by Torres to pad UDC's lead.
UDC was about three minutes away from its 6th shutout victory of the season when Daemen's Alex Reid deflected in Aiden Tolley's free kick from the left sideline to make the score, 3-1. Just 22 seconds later, however, Ortez scored for UDC to push the lead back to three, 4-1.
Next up for the Firebirds is a pivotal non-conference game vs. Goldey-Beacom College on Wednesday, October 25th at 3 p.m. UDC is currently No. 7 in the NCAA Division II East Region poll, and it will square off against a Lightning team from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference that is 13-3-1 overall and has the No. 1 team scoring offense in Division II.