In an exciting men’s soccer matchup on Saturday, SUNY Brockport and SUNY Poly ended the game in a 2-2 tie. The Golden Eagles were unable to hold their two-goal lead as SUNY Poly equalized in the second half of the matchup.
The Golden Eagles were a goal up in the first half. Max Voyer scored the first goal in the 10th minute assisted by Peter Tinaj. Trevor Lagarde scored his first goal of the season assisted by Brady Reinagel to give Brockport a 2-0 lead. Lagarde scored the long-range goal in the 58th minute.
“I was running behind the center-back and I was just positioning,” Lagarde said. “I was where I needed to be and I saw the ball come across, the centerback got dragged wide, and I was able to put it away.”
Brockport had nine shot attempts with four of them being on target compared to Poly’s 17, with nine on target. A physical game, Brockport committed 22 fouls; the Wildcats only committed seven.
The Golden Eagles faced a setback when starting goalkeeper Andrew Taylor sustained an elbow injury and was replaced by senior goalkeeper Dylan Lopez in the 37th minute. Lopez played a total of 53 minutes against the Wildcats and made four crucial saves.
“Not the way I wanted to get in,” Lopez said. “Obviously, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Making those saves was a beautiful moment. Getting in on my 21st birthday I felt nice to be out there making saves and just having fun and people were cheering and stuff.”
Freshman centerback Khadim Amar sustained an injury in the 86th minute and was replaced by Brendan Hill. Voyer was replaced by sophomore forward Troy Gallagher in the 35th minute after Voyer fell ill.
“We’re kind of banged up right now, but that’s why you got to trust your roster,” Brockport head coach Gary LaPietra said. “There are enough players on here to help us do what we need to do. In the second half we cost too many fouls, and those fouls cost us a lot of chances because they were playing direct into the box.”
Due to the injuries, Eric Ramirez played a versatile role, playing in the defensive back line, midfield and on the wing.
“Eric is our utility guy,” LaPietra said. “Eric does everything I ask him to do, and he wasn’t even feeling good, he was sick the last couple days in practice. He gave us what he had today, and we just kind of use him as a utility player, because he helps us anywhere, I can ask him to play, and he just does his job very well.”
Up 2-0 with just over 15 minutes remaining, SUNY Poly would create dangerous opportunities to score, testing Lopez and Brockport’s back line. Thomas Nimineh would break through in the 75th minute, scoring for the Wildcats to make the score 2-1. Just four minutes later, Jael Casimir would score, evening the score. The Golden Eagles would keep pushing looking for the winning goal. Russ Domm earned back-to-back corner kicks in the waning minutes, but Brockport was unable to finish. The game would finish 2-2.
Brockport currently has an overall record of 4-4-2 and will be on the road next Wednesday, Oct. 9 to face Nazareth University. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
