UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's soccer team rolled to its most convincing victory of the season on Wednesday night as the Pioneers topped host Cazenovia 6-0. Senior forward
Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) netted one goal and has now tied Evan DuFault '07 and
Kevin McAllister '13 for the school-record with 26 career goals.
Utica has now won three of its last four games and improved to 3-4 overall headed into Saturday's Empire 8 Conference opener at Ithaca College (1 p.m.). Saturday's contest is a rematch of last year's Empire 8 Conference tournament semifinals and the Pioneers will look to avenge two 1-0 losses at the hands of the Bombers last season.
Six different players scored for the Pioneers beginning with sophomore forward
Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) who now has three goals in his last two appearances. Ruffing assisted Gazashvili on the Pioneers' first goal of the contest at the 4:31 marker of the first half. Gazashvili leads the team with nine points (three goals, three assists) while Ruffing ranks second on the team with eight points (three goals, two assists).
Utica's
Patrick Claffey (Burlington, CT/Lewis Mills) netted his second career goal, assisted by
Joseph Hunter (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth-Whitemarsh), to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead at the 14:16 marker of the first half. Claffey now ranks third on the team with five points this season.
UC's
John Burke (Commack. NY/Commack) closed out the first half of play with a rebound goal, his second of the season, to give the Pioneers a 3-0 advantage at halftime.
In the 53
rd minute
Jordan Senay (Lockport, NY/Lockport) connected with Ruffing for the record-tying goal to put the Pioneers on top 4-0. Freshman classmates
Nicolas Diaz (Commack, NY/Commack) and
Peyton LaReaux (Utica, NY/T.R. Proctor) each added their first career goals to close out the scoring for the Pioneers.
Utica outshot Caz 24-12 on the day and also earned a 10-2 advantage in corner kicks.
UC goalie
Matthew Milograno (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) earned his first career shutout victory in net as he made six saves in 90 minutes of work.
The Pioneers are 11-1 against Cazenovia dating back to 2002. Utica has outscored the Wildcats 53-9 in that stretch and they have posted seven shut out victories.