By Logan Weingartner
The Finger Lakes Community College men’s soccer team looked to create a winning record on Wednesday evening, as they brought the #10 Lazers of Onondaga Community College to the FLCC multi-use turf. However, a back-and-forth game between both squads would prevent a win for either, as the final result came out to an even 3-3 draw, marking the second tie of the season for the Lakers.
Things got off to a fast start, as both teams came out of the gates with high motors. The Lakers struck gold first, as Gary Cooper (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Arcadia) was able to find the back of the net off of a swift pass from Robin Giesing (Essen, Germany/Gymnasium-Essen-Werden) in the 9′ mark to make it 1-0. Keeper Harry Eastwick (Christchurch, New Zealand/St. Thomas of Canterbury College) and the Lakers were able to fend off the opposition up until 19′, when Amani Gasore of the Lazers netted the first goal for the team – setting the score at 1 apiece. The rest of the first half went along well for the Lakers, though, as the defense stood tall, not letting a goal through.
An overload of shots and saves headlined the start of the 2nd half. It wasn’t until the 63′ mark that the Lazers got one to go through, with Evan O’Dwyer Hall making it 2-1 in favor of the Lazers. However, the Lakers wasted no time getting back on their feet, as freshman Yaco Gutierrez (San Lorenzo, Argentina/Colegio Sagrado Corazon) found the back of the net not even a minute later off of a precise feed from classmate Joao Antonio Rocha (Sergipe, Brazil/Colegio Master) to tie it up at 2 goals apiece.
As time winded down, the Lakers were looking to capitalize. Freshman Robin Giesing would do just that, scoring off of an excellent feed from Ben Berger (Weil am Rhein, Germany/Kaufmannische Schule Lorrach) to give the team a 3-2 lead. This goal capped off Giesing’s strong outing, as he finalized a stat line of 3 shots on goal, 1 goal and 1 assist.
Despite several key late-stage defensive stops for the Lakers, the Lazers managed to find an equalizer, as Tyler Wavercak netted an unassisted goal to even it up at 3 in the 82′ mark. Neither team could pull away to score the go-ahead goal as the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
With numerous contributions from defenders such as Sergio Baron (Bogota, Columbia/Liceo Matovelle), Mark Musembi (Nairobi, Kenya/Rosslyn Academy), and Allan Matheus (Sergipe, Brazil/American Batisa), the Lakers were able to avoid a loss. Furthermore, keeper Harry Eastwick was a vital piece to the puzzle, playing the full 90 minutes and only letting through 3 goals on 5 shots from the Lazers.
The Lakers will hit the road for their next matchup, where they will face off against Clinton Community College in Plattsburgh, New York on Saturday, September 7th at 3 PM.
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