UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's soccer team gears up for St. John Fisher University on Wednesday, September 25, at 7 p.m. before traveling to Elmira College on Saturday, September 28, at 1 p.m.
 
Follow Along: For live video against Fisher, please follow here and live stats here. Live video for away's game at Elmira can be found here and live stats here.
 
Last Time Out: The Utica University men's soccer team opened its Empire 8 Conference play on Saturday, September 14 with a 1-1 draw against Houghton University. Noah Nassberg (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast) was the one to break the scoreless tie for the Pioneers, also tallying five shots in the contest. Assisting on the Nassberg goal was Anderson Velazquez (Norwood, NY/Marble Hill) and Maximillian Pawlowski, who both recorded one shot each on the afternoon. Martin Mendoza (Walden, NY/The Mount Academy) recorded four shots, one of which fell on goal, while Gavin Baxter (Ellenville, NY/Ellenville), Felix-Assa Loselose (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham), and Joseph Cavallo (Cornwall, NY/Cornwall Central) each tallied two shots. In goal for the Pioneers was goalkeeper Foti Xidias (Carteret, NJ/Carteret), who tallied five saves in the effort. The opening frame would see the Pioneers slightly out possess the Highlanders, putting forth eight shots to their seven, as well as recording two corner kicks in the half. Houghton would be the one to get the offense going in the first half, recording the first shot of the game in the eighth minute. Utica's Mendoza would rifle one off shortly thereafter, but his effort would go slightly right and out of bounds. The end of the opening frame would be where the Pioneers shined as Utica would put forth six shots in the final 15 minutes of the half, only one of which would fall on goal courtesy of Baxter. Despite the offensive efforts by the Pioneers, they would go into halftime scoreless. The second frame would see an offensive onslaught by the Pioneers, starting with Cavallo recording a shot less than three minutes into the frame at 47:04. Utica would then go on to have three straight corners, with Carson Rother (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) able to make a jab at the Highlanders goalkeep on the second of three, but to no avail as the shot went just left of the goal. It would not be until the 64th minute where Noah Nassberg (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast) would break it open for the Pioneers, finding the back of the net on feeds from Anderson Velazquez (Norwood, NY/Marble Hill) and Maximillian Pawlowski to break the scoreless tie. 10 minutes later, Houghton was awarded a penalty kick on a foul by Noah Scranton (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) for the opportunity to tie the game then and there, but Utica goalkeeper Foti Xidias (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) was able to remain stout to allow Utica to hold its lead. The Pioneers would put forth several opportunities to double the lead and put the game on ice late in the second half, but it would be the Highlanders that would come up fruitful after a shot from Caleb Bailey would squeak by Xidias to tie the game at 1 apiece in the 88th minute.
 
Where We Stand: Utica is in fifth place in the Empire 8 standings with a 1-2-4 overall record and a 0-0-1 conference record. Nazareth is in first, followed by Russell Sage, St. John Fisher and SUNY Geneseo.
 
Shots Shots Shots: Utica's offense has been getting a plethora of shots off in recent matches as they rank in the top six in E8 play, recording 84 shots and nine goals in seven matches. Velazquez stands in seventh in league play with 19 shots, averaging 2.71 per game. He has a shot in every game played this season.
 
Pass Em Out: Pawlowski and Velazquez lead the Pioneers in assists, as they recorded one in the past two matches. The team ranks third in conference play with 10 team assists. Mendoza, Nassberg, Cavallo, Loselose and Pender have at least one each.
 
Record Breakin: Xidias keeps making a name for himself in the Pioneer record book as he's accumulated 203 saves all-time, cracking the top four in Utica history. He is 23 saves away from taking second place all-time.
 
About Fisher: The Cardinals are 2-2-3 and 1-0-1 in league play. The team is coming off a 0-0 draw against Geneseo on Saturday, September 21. Fisher finished 2023 as the conference champion runner-up, falling to Elmira 4-2 on Penalty Kicks. Last season the Cardinals were led by Riley Rease, who finished 2023 with 12 points. This season, he returns and has recorded one assist and one shot through three games. Joey Avallone leads the charge through seven matches in 2024, collecting four points off two goals on seven shots on goal. Both his goals came against Elmira on September 14, and since, he has been scoreless in two consecutive matches. Reese Powers, Ryan Brown, Jack Tamurino have the team's only other three goals, while Aidan Furmansky, Trevor Heschke and Rease have Fisher's assists. Christian Burkhart has started all seven matches in goal, posting a .85 goals against average and a .793 save percentage.
 
Scouting Elmira: The Soaring Eagles are 1-4-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Elmira picked up its first win on Saturday, 21, against SUNY Poly 1-0. The team is coming off a 2023 season where they won the Empire 8 Championship, 4-2 on penalty kicks against Fisher. In the NCAA DIII Tournament, Elmira fell to Montclair State University, 2-0. Last season, the team was led by Martin Harguindey, who scored 13 goals and made two assists in 19 games. Eight players have at least one point, six of them are goal scorers, and two have only assists. Juan Carlos Cruz Gandia is the team's goalkeeper, starting five games and posting 1.5 goals against average.
 
Up Next: Utica welcomes cross-town rival SUNY Poly on Wednesday, October 2 at 5 p.m.