Albany, NY—Sage's men's soccer team hosted Utica College on Saturday night in an Empire 8 match-up. The Gators rallied to beat the Pioneers, 4-2 and keep their hopes of an Empire 8 post-season berth alive in the process. Sage improves to 7-6 overall and 2-3 in the Empire 8, while Utica falls to 9-4-2 and 2-2-1 in the league.
Utica struck first as graduate player Adnan Bakalovic (Utica, NY/Proctor) scored on a feed from senior Ethan Thomas (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) just 56 seconds into the match.
Sophomore midfielder Rafael-Enrigue Holguin (Gansevoort, NY/CBA) tied the action on a pass from junior forward Jeaneste Pierre (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) at 13:59. Pierre then broke the 1-1 tie with his goal at 43:42 just before the half on a pass from pass from rookie Greg Winglosky (Charleston, SC/Wando) after collecting the ball off the flipping throw-in from Winglosky on the near side of the field.
Sage was awarded a penalty kick in the second half at 58:16 and sophomore Kevin Winglosky (Schodack, NY/Icahbod Crane) converted the score to give Sage a 3-1 lead.
Moments later a penalty kick was awards to the Pioneers at the 61:34 mark and rookie Jhonny Theze (Bronx, NY/Claremont International) converted the shot for his team-leading 8th goal of the year, cutting Sage's lead to just one, down 3-2.
Junior forward Griffin Goodemote (Broadalbin, NY/Broadlabin Perth) added the last goal of the night as he blasted a shot from the far ride side out about 24 yards and beat Utica's senior keeper Jonathan Spooner (Lisbon, NY/Lisbon) for the final score of the night at 67:13.
Spooner made three saves and drops to 1-2 on the year, while Sage's sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Bourdeau (Castleton-on-Hudson, NY/Maple Hill) made five save in earning the win and is now 7-6 in goal.
Sage is at Castleton University on Wednesday, October 23 for a rescheduled non-league game at 4 p.m. Utica is back in action on October 22 hosting Hobart College in a 7 p.m. non-league game.