Box Score  Utica, NY (August 30, 2014) – The Utica College men's soccer team has opened the season 2-0 for the third time in the last four years after a convincing 4-0 victory over visiting SUNY Purchase on Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.  The Pioneers have now outscored their opponents 7-0 over the course of their first two games, after topping Sage 3-0 in their home opener on Friday night. 

Senior forward Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) continued his dominant play as he added two more goals and now leads all Pioneers with five on the season.  Ruffing is off to one of the hottest starts in program-history and he is just one goal shy of his career best of six goals in a single season which he set back in 2013.  Ruffing's 36 career points (16 goals, four assists) are now tied for sixth all-time at UC and his 16 career goals are tied for fourth all-time.

Freshman forward Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia/) netted his first collegiate goal to open the scoring on the afternoon when he gathered a loose ball in the box and beat Purchase goalie Thomas Ogrodnik to give UC a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of play. Gazashvili now has one goal and two assists in just two games for Utica.  Purchase locked the Pioneers down for the remainder of the first half and the score was set at 1-0 as the halftime horn sounded.

Goals have come in bunches for Ruffing so far this season and nothing changed on Saturday as he opened the second half scoring with two goals in a span of 31 seconds to push the UC lead to 3-0 in the 56^th minute.  Senior defender Chris Stashko (Apalachin, NY/Apalachin) delivered the 55 yard free kick to assist Ruffing on his first goal of the game. 

Sophomore reserve Marcel Dupuis (Hannacroix, NY/Greenville) netted his first collegiate goal in the 74^th minute to secure the 4-0 victory for the Pioneers. Senior goalie David Abdou (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) stopped two shots in his second consecutive shutout.

UC outshot Purchase 14-4 on the afternoon, but the visiting Panthers took a 5-2 advantage in corner kick opportunities. 

The Pioneers have now won five straight, and six-of-seven, at Gaetano Stadium dating back to last season.

UC returns to the pitch on Wednesday night when it travels to nearby SUNYIT to take on the Wildcats at 6 p.m.  SUNYIT lost a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime decision to Purchase on Friday night.