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Utica, NY -- Despite a late comeback effort by the Soaring Eagles, the men's soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at Utica College Saturday night. A victory over Utica would have clinched the number two seed in the Empire 8 Championships, but the loss places them on the outside looking in as they finished fifth in the conference.

The Pioneers were the first to get on the board as Kevin McAllister followed up a rebound off the post to give Utica the 1-0 lead just 2:57 into the game. The rest of the first half was played fairly even, but Utica's Jonathon Peterson broke away from the Soaring Eagles' defense and successfully executed the one-on-one with EC goalkeeper, Nick Lapinski '17, to give the Pioneers the 2-0 advantage at halftime.

The second half seemed to be going Elmira's way as they were getting quality looks at net, but Utica's goalie, Anthony Caruso, came up with two huge saves to keep EC scoreless. The Soaring Eagles finally broke through with just under two minutes to play as Ryan Limero '14 put home a pretty, 23-yard shot to give the Purple and Gold some life. EC tried to get the equalizer to force overtime, but they could not get another shot to go in the final 1:53 as they fell 2-1.

The loss ends the 2013 men's soccer season and the careers of the nine members of the Class of 2014.