PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's soccer team tied with Nazareth College by a score of 1-1 in the annual "Battle of the Beaks" at Growney Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The game was highlighted by three red cards, two for the Golden Flyers and one for the Cardinals.
Fisher moves to 3-8-3 overall and 1-1-2 in the Empire 8 while extending its unbeaten streak to four games. Nazareth, who sits at the top of the league standings, is now 10-2-2 on the year with a 3-0-1 record in conference play. The draw ended a six-game winning streak by the Golden Flyers.
It was a physical game right from the start as both squads looked to take control. 25 minutes in, a Nazareth player would be given a red card, putting them down to 10 men on the field. A handful of yellow cards were given out as the half progressed with freshman
Ishaan Kashyap taking his second on the day that would mean his ejection from the game and settling it at 10 on 10.
The Golden Flyers looked to score on multiple chances but senior goalie
Justin Miles and the Cardinals' defense stood tall against the attack. With one second left on the clock in the first, a second Nazareth player would receive a red card putting them down to nine men on the field for the rest of the day.
Nazareth broke the scoreless game 30 seconds into the second half. The momentum however, would start to shift in Fisher's favor as it went from 0 shots in the first to 8 in the second half. With less than two minutes to go and still down by one, sophomore
Justin Bonetto worked his way into the box and send it off to sophomore
Brennan Brown. The Chili native took the shot and it bounced its way past the keeper into the back of the net to tie the game at one a piece.
The game would go into overtime where the Cardinals looked to hand Nazareth its first loss in conference this season. Fisher utilized its man up advantage by creating some good scoring opportunities but were unable to score in either of the extra periods, settling for the tie.
The goal was Brown's team-leading fourth of the season. The sophomore set a new career-high points in a single season with now eight this year. Bonetto had a game-high six shots. Miles spent all 110 minutes in net for the Cardinals.
Fisher travels to Elmira College on Saturday, October 26 for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Soaring Eagles.
