UTICA CITY FC FALLS IN OVERTIME FRIDAY
Utica, NY – In one of the final games of the season, the Kansas City Comets came back multiple times to defeat Utica City FC 7-6 in Overtime. Utica got out to a quick 3-0 lead but was unable to hold on as the visitors answered every call and left the Adirondack Bank Center with a crucial win.
Utica’s trend of fast starts this season continued today vs. Kansas City. Ronaldinho got things going just under five minutes in, firing a powerful effort between the legs of goalie Nicolau Neto to give the City a 1-0 lead. The gap between the two teams doubled just seven minutes later. Following a beautiful through ball from Gordy Gurson, Emmanuel Belliard showed some great composure and calmly dinked Neto. Utica continued to pile on before the end of the quarter. Mehrshad Ahmadi started a break for the City with a ball to Vini Dantas, whose deflected shot found the feet of Meny Silva. The goal made the score 3-0, which remained going into the second period.
The three goal lead was almost put into danger when Ahmadi was called for a tripping penalty. Utica was down a man but Kansas City was unable to convert on the power play. The Comets would get their goal just under ten minutes in. Lucas Sousa fired home a powerful effort following a direct passage of play, cutting the deficit down to two. Neither team would be able to change the score as the first half of play ended with the scoreboard still reading 3-1 in favor of the home side.
Utica wouldn’t take long to restore its three goal advantage. Ahmadi took advantage of the power play with a sneaky one-time finish at the 1:48 mark. It was an edge which wouldn’t last for long. Following an incisive pass from Sousa, Rian Marques tapped one home to make the score 4-2. The rest of the quarter was all Comets. Ignacio Flores fired home a rocket past Andrew Coughlin to cut the deficit down to one for the first time since the first half. Kansas City continued its hot streak with yet another goal exactly one minute later. Following a cheap giveaway, Junior Kazeem leveled the score at four apiece. However, Utica was able to break the run with a goal before the quarter ended. After a sequence of shots, who else was there but Vini to clean up the scraps for the City. It restored the lead for Utica going into the final quarter of the game.
Kansas City started the fourth with yet another answer. After a brilliant passage of play, it was Marques who tied the game up again. In true back and forth fashion, Utica would yet again have an answer. A clever free kick routine would lead to Gurson firing home a bullet to make the score 6-5 in favor of the home team. If you thought this game already sounded crazy, think again! Flores finished his brace with a long range effort with just 15.6 seconds left in the game. Surprisingly, neither team was able to score in the remaining 15 seconds and the game went into overtime.
A little over eight minutes in, Nathan Durdle was taken down by Juan Alava resulting in a penalty for the Comets. Sousa stepped up for the visitors and finished off the penalty, giving the visitors a massive 7-6 win in overtime.