Utica, NY (11/1/14)- The Utica College men's soccer team clinched the No. 3 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament as it downed visiting Alfred University 4-1 in E8 action Saturday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. 
 
The Pioneers (7-8-3, 4-3 Empire 8) will travel to top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology next weekend for the E8 Tournament.  UC will take on No. 2 seed Ithaca College in the semifinal at 4 p.m.
 
Freshman Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) and senior Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) each had two goals, while Matt Beljan (Bedminster, PA/Christopher Dock), Raine Owens (Pine Plains, NY/Stissing Mt. ), and Chris Stashko (Apalachin, NY/Apalachin) added one assist apiece.  Utica got on the board early as Gazashvili found the back of the net just 4:15 into the game.  The forward added another tally eight minutes later to give UC the 2-0 cushion.  Alfred cut the lead in half in the 66th minute as Jeff Thomas netted his team-leading eighth of the season.  However, Ruffing netted two goals in the final 15 minutes of play to put the game out of reach. 
 
Alfred outshot the Pioneers 17-8 on the day and held a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks. Senior David Abdou (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) made 10 saves in goal for Utica, while his counterpart, Chris Gutierrez, had two stops. 



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