Brockport men’s soccer took down the Elmira Soaring Eagles by a score of 3-2 on Saturday. The Golden Eagles second straight win clinched a playoff spot for them on senior day.
“I think we’re definitely picking up steam at the right time,” senior goalkeeper Dylan Lopez said. “It was a rough start, but we’re racking up wins now. It’s time to build off what we’ve already done and just keep bettering ourselves for playoff time.”
Lopez was in goal for Brockport in just his second start of the season. The plan was for Lopez to only play the first half, but with usual starter Andrew Taylor dealing with an injury, Lopez played the full game. “D-Lo,” as his teammates refer to him, allowed just two goals, made four saves and came away with the win.
“It felt good,” Lopez said. “It was nice being out there with everyone, all the people in my class. We’ve been through a lot, a lot of memories together. It was special, definitely.”
“[Lopez] comes to work every single day, and he gives us so much enthusiasm that I’m not worried we put him in,” Brockport head coach Gary LaPietra said. “He did a great job today.”
The Golden Eagles got on the board first with under 30 minutes remaining in the first half. Brady Reinagel got a shot just past the outstretched arm of Elmira keeper Juan Carlos Cruz Gandia to put Brockport up 1-0. This was Reinagel’s first goal of the season. DJ Taylor was credited with the assist.
“It’s amazing to finally contribute,” Reinagel said. “Hopefully we can keep that going.”
This lead would not last long as the Soaring Eagles evened the score just five minutes later. Pietro Gallina cashed in his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Horacio Vicioso picked up the assist, giving him his first point of the year.
Back-and-forth we went as the Golden Eagles retook the lead less than four minutes later. Brockport was awarded a penalty kick, and Alex Rivera found the back of the net to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Brockport maintained that lead through the end of the first half as their defense held strong. Overall, the Golden Eagles put nine shots on the board in the half, four of which were on goal. Elmira put up four shots of their own, three being on goal. Brockport also took four corners in the half compared to the Soaring Eagles’ three.
After a quiet first 20 minutes to start the second half, Reinagel struck again. His second goal of the game extended the Brockport lead to 3-1.
The Soaring Eagles got that goal right back when Brockport freshman Khadim Amar scored an own goal to bring it right back to a one-goal game. Horacio Vicioso was credited with the goal for Elmira.
Despite that, the Brockport defense kept the ball out of the net for the remainder of the game, securing a 3-2 win for the Golden Eagles.
“I told them at the end of the game, we had the game in hand, we gave up a pretty bad own goal there,” LaPietra said. “We kind of panicked a little bit to finish the game, so we have to do better with that. We’ll work on that in practice all next week to get ready for the playoffs.”
With the win, Brockport improves to 6-6-2 on the year. Elmira falls to 4-7-4 with the loss. The penultimate game of the Golden Eagles regular season will be next Saturday as they take on the Utica Pioneers. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
