| 9/27/2005 6:54:57 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY - Senior Dan Beca (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) scored his first collegiate goal with 7:59 to play in the second half, as the RIT Men's Soccer team battled from down 1-0 and 2-1 to tie Buffalo State College 2-2 at RIT Field on Tuesday.
Beca tallied his first goal in his 60th contest, converting a perfect crossing pass from Jorge Cirulizza (McLean, VA/Gonzaga) to knot the game at 2 and send the contest into overtime. Both teams threatened to net the winner, but for the second straight season, would settle for the tie.
Buffalo State (6-2-1) opened the scoring in the 12th minute, as Christian Elizondo slid home a loose ball in front of the Tigers net off a free kick to give Buffalo State a 1-0 lead.
RIT (4-3-2, 1-0-0 Empire 8) rallied back to tie the game, as Cirulizza tallied his team-best third goal of the year in the 30th minute. Senior midfielder Mike Lawson (Wall, NJ/Wall) (Wall, NJ/Wall) raced down a loose ball at midfield and fed a pass to a streaking Cirulizza, who snuck a low shot just out of the reach of Buffalo State goalkeeper Shawn McDonell and inside the left goal post.
The Bengals marched right back, regaining the lead just 47 seconds later, as Casey Cushing headed in a pass from Amadu Barrie at the side of the Tigers net for the 2-1 lead.
In the second half, RIT came out determined, dominaing play from the start and generating several scoring chances, out-shooting Buffalo State 14-2 over the final 45 minutes of regulation play. RIT almost tied the game in the 70th minute, as a corner kick by Lawson was headed off the goal post by a Buffalo State defender.
In overtime, each team had a handful of great chances to end the game, but were unable to do so. Andrew Ong (Phuket, Thailand/SKL) (Phuket, Thailand/SKL) ripped a shot on a free kick that was punched just over the net by McDonell. Matt Ketchum had a shot stopped by RIT goalkeeper Matt Klosner (Lowville, NY/Lowville Academy) (Lowville, NY/Lowville). The rebound slid to the side of the net, where Barrie had a shot blocked out of play.
RIT out-shot Buffalo State 27-15, and recorded a season-high 13 corner kicks. McDonell made 11 saves for Buffalo State. Dan Slocum (Irondequoit, NY/Bishop Kearney) (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) made four first-half saves for RIT. Klosner stopped one shot over the final 65 minutes to earn the tie.
RIT is back in action on Saturday, as they travel to play Empire 8 rival Alfred University at 1 p.m.
