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ROCHESTER, NY – Sophomore Jeff Diaz (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) scored his first goal of the season with 6:13 left in the second overtime to lift the RIT men's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Buffalo State College on a sweltering hot and sunny Tuesday afternoon at RIT Field.

 

Diaz received a feed from Chuck Marion (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) who grabbed a loose ball along the right sideline and raced towards the goal.  Marion's soft centering feed found Diaz right in front. Diaz slipped a shot just inside the left post to give RIT the win.

 

RIT is now 6-2-1 in 2007 and has won two straight. Buffalo State is 3-4-1.

Junior defender Chris Somers (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) scored his second goal of the season with 4:25 left in regulation . Somers received a perfect pass from freshman Daniel Holowaty (Strongsville, OH/St. Ignatious) (Strongsville, OH/St. Ignatious) off a restart inside the box and lofted a shot just inside the right goal post.

 

RIT played a man up for the final 4:25 of regulation and both overtimes after a red card was issued to Buffalo State for stalling.

 

The Bengals had the best chance in the first overtime, as Joshua Mitchell whistled a shot just over the net after receiving a point-blank chance from about 12-yards out.

 

Tony Schiappa nearly won it for the Bengals about 30 seconds in the second overtime, as his header was calmly knocked over the net by RIT goalkeeper Alan Smith (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor).

 

Buffalo State held a big advantage in play over the first 20 minutes of play and scored the only goal of the first half less than four minutes in.

 

The Bengals got on the board just 3:36 in, as Christian Elizondo slammed home a rebound off a header from Justin Lofaro. The play started when Schiappa took a corner kick from the right side. Lofaro headed the cross that was stopped by Smith. Smith could not control the rebound, and Elizondo was right there to slam the ball home.

 

Smith made a tremendous save to keep the score 1-0 Buffalo State in the ninth minute. Lofaro ripped a high shot from just outside the box that Smith was able to tip over the crossbar.

 

The Tigers awoke about midway through the half and had several good scoring chances of their own.

 

Somers had RIT's best chance of the half with just over 20 minutes left.  Marionfed a cross off a corner kick that Somers one-timed off the right crossbar.

 

Kyle Dawson (Essex Junction, VT/Essex) (Essex Junction, VT/Essex) had a shot from close in off a scramble blocked by a Bengal defender later in the half.

 

Buffalo State held an 11-8 advantage in shots over the first 45 minutes.

 

Buffalo State was awarded three yellow cards in the second half, all for delay of game.

 

RIT out-shot Buffalo State 20-19. Dan Corti made nine saves for the Bengals, while Smith stopped nine shots to pick up his sixth win of the season for RIT.

 

The Tigers are back in action on Saturday, as they host Empire 8 rival St. John Fisher at RIT Field. The contest gets underway at 12 p.m.