TWO-GOAL FOURTH QUARTER HELPS UTICA CITY PULL AWAY FROM HARRISBURG, 7-5
Harrisburg, PA - A week after two back-to-back losses to in Missouri, the away stretch continued for Utica City FC with a matchup in Pennsylvania against the Harrisburg Heat. In a game that featured heavy squad rotation from UCFC, Utica was able to keep a perfect record on the year against the Heat with a 7-5 victory.
It took until the midway point of the first quarter for the deadlock to break. Brad Kerstetter found his second goal of the season by taking the ball around UCFC netminder Andrew Coughlin and rolling it into the net. The Seton Hall alum’s second goal of the season put the Heat up one. Then, Dominic Francis doubled the home side’s lead as he curled a free kick perfectly into the top corner at the 11:09 mark. Those two Heat goals put the home side up 2-0 at the end of the first 15 minutes of play.
It took a while for the UCFC offense to get going, and it was a mistake from Heat netminder Hugo Silva that allowed for the first Utica goal. Six and a half minutes into the second, Silva lost possession of the ball at midfield, and Mehrshad Ahmadi took advantage, firing it into an open net. Ahmadi’s fifth goal of the season put UCFC down by 1. With 64 seconds left in the first half, Nilton De Andrade fired a rocket of a half-volley into the top left corner to tie the game at 2. That score would hold through halftime, with both sides heading to the break knotted at 2.
Just like the first two quarters, the first 6 minutes of the third remained scoreless. In fact, it was 8 minutes into the period when a blistering Utica City FC counterattack saw Ahmadi round the keeper and lay off a pass to Keaton Woods for an easy tap-in. The Woods goal pushed the score to 3-2 in favor of UCFC. One minute later, Ozzy Anang tied it back up, slotting a ball into the bottom right corner past Coughlin. The Heat kept the pressure on, and a minute after the Anang goal Mike Da-Silva finished off a rebound from a Noe Favila shot to give the Heat a 4-3 lead. With two minutes left in the frame, Ricky Orozco was charged with a tripping as he took down Anang and gave up a shootout opportunity. Francis converted on the chance, and Harrisburg took a 5-3 lead. Immediately after the shootout goal, Junior Pinal responded with a firecracker of a volley into the top corner after a wall pass from Ronaldinho. With 30 seconds left, Ahmadi took a jab step and lifted a ball past Silva to tie the game at 5-5.