Buffalo, NY – The Utica College men's soccer team netted two second half goals on its way to a 2-0 victory over host D'Youville on Sunday afternoon. Senior Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia/) netted his first goal of the season in the 54^th minute, while Austyn Diller (Tappan, NY/Tappan Zee) netted his first collegiate goal in the 65^th minute to help the Pioneers snap a three game slide.

Utica improved to 4-4 overall on the year headed into a non-conference matchup back at home on Wednesday against SUNY ESF (7:30 p.m.). D'Youville's record fell to 1-4-1 on the season.

After a scoreless first half of play Utica's Julian Fonseca (Rocky Hill, CT/Bridgton) crossed a ball into the box to Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia/) who headed home his first goal of the season at 54:13. Fonseca leads UC with five assists this season.  

UC then took a 2-0 advantage 11:05 later when Austyn Diller (Tappan, NY/Tappan Zee), who is traditionally a backup goalie for UC but came into the game as a field player, netted the game clinching goal off an assist from Garrett Bortiatynski (Rome, NY/Holland Patent). The assist for Bortiatynski was his first collegiate point.

Goalie Matthew Milograno (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) made his first start of the season and registered six saves to earn his first shutout and win of the season. D'Youville goalie Peter Petruzzo made four saves on the afternoon.

D'Youville earned a 17-15 shot advantage on the afternoon, while the Pioneers earned five corners compared to the Spartans four.