Men's Soccer | 10/19/2008 1:51:57 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT men's soccer team was defeated by Utica College, 1-0 in a key Empire 8 matchup on Sunday afternoon. The loss drops RIT into a tie for fourth place with Nazareth College in the Empire 8 standings.

In a scoreless first half RIT goaltender Alan Smith (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) was outstandingn. He made three brilliant saves from close range early in the half.

Allen Nicholson (Lewisburg, PA/Lewisburg Area) (Lewisburg, PA) and John Braswell (LeRoy, NY/LeRoy) (LeRoy, NY) had good scoring chances late in the half for the Tigers but Ben Banker made the saves for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers broke the scoreless tie in the 58th minute on a goal by Luke Whelan. He took a feed from Brian Couture, turned and fired a low shot into the left corner of the net.

The Tigers had a really good scoring chance with a little over 31 minutes remaining in regulation. Todd Gaulocher (Old Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) (Greenwich, CT) served a ball into Utica's box. Bobby Bullard (Bergen, NY/Byron-Bergen) (Bergen, NY/Byron-Bergen) back-heeled a nifty pass to #Dan Holowaty (Strongsville, OH/St. Ignatius)# (Strongeville, OH/St. Ignatius). He gathered the ball and rifled a shot but Banker made the save with his shins keeping RIT off the board.

RIT created a few more good scoring chances but were unable to penetrate Utica's defense.

Utica held the shot advantage 14-9 over the Tigers. RIT took six corners to Utica's three.

Smith finished with four saves on the afternoon, taking the loss for the Tigers who fall to 5-8-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the Empire 8.

RIT returns to action next Saturday when they face St. John Fisher in another pivotal Empire 8 matchup. The game gets underway at 6 pm at St. John Fisher's Growney Stadium.