UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's soccer team opened its season with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to St. John Fisher on Saturday afternoon. The match was an Empire 8 Conference match played at Utica's Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. 

The Pioneers came out of the gate hot as Ramazani Juma (Utica, NY/Proctor) scored his first goal in a Pioneer uniform on a header 7:08 into the contest, which was assisted by Patrick Hynes (Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem). The freshman's goal gave UC an early 1-0 lead, which it held until halftime.

Randy Miksch (Lake Villa, IL/Warren Township) had a perfect first half, as the senior saved all of the seven shots that came his way. He finished the afternoon with eight saves in total. 

Fisher evened the game 20 minutes into the second half when Justin Bonetto fired one past Miksch from 15 yards out off of the Stephen Guidi assist.  The score remained 1-1 until Brennan Brown found the back of the net at 85:27 from eight yards out off of a Jackson Bishop assist. That would turn out to be the difference in the match as Fisher held on to secure the 2-1 win. 

The Cardinals outshot the Pioneers 19-16. Juma was responsible for eight of UC's total shots. 

UC (0-1, 0-1 E8) will return to action on March 19 at 5 p.m. when the team hits the road for the first time to face Houghton College.