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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth and visiting Ithaca finished their Empire 8 Conference men's soccer game in a 1-1 tie Sunday afternoon. Nazareth senior #Christopher Löfgren# scored the Golden Flyers' lone goal in the fifth minute of play to give Nazareth an early advantage. Matt Baluzy's deflected shot, with under 15 minutes remaining in regulation, tied the game for Ithaca.
Following the tie, Nazareth's record is now 2-0-1 in the Empire 8 and 6-4-1 overall. The Bombers are now 4-3-3 overall and 1-1-1 in conference matches.
Löfgren's goal came directly off a corner kick that curled into the upper corner of the goal. The ball went through the hands of the Bombers' goalkeeper Justin Parlapiano and into the Ithaca net. The remaining 40 minutes of the half were hard fought between the teams, but neither team could find the back of the net.
Midway through the second half, Nazareth goalie
Ryan Platt made back-to-back saves to keep the Bombers off the board. In the 76th minute, however, Ithaca would score the equalizer. Baluzy took a shot from around the top of the box. The shot went off defender
Raymond Touchstone's head and rolled into the Golden Flyers' goal.
Shortly after Ithaca's goal, Nazareth's
Chris Eccles was given a red card, which forced the Golden Flyers to play with 10 players for the final 13 minutes of regulation and the two overtime periods.
Each team had opportunities to score in the overtime periods as Nazareth had six shots and the Bombers had five in the extra sessions. Juniors
Philip Holmberg and
Rikesh Kotak each had opportunities to score during overtime, but the Ithaca defense kept the game tied.
The Bombers finished with a 21-12 advantage in shots and a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks. Platt finished with 12 saves for the Golden Flyers while Parlapiano had four.
Nazareth plays at Stevens Saturday in its next match.