UTICA CITY FC TRIPPED UP BY THE FLORIDA TROPICS, 9-3

The Tropics opened the scoring at 4:13 off of the boot of Zach Reget. Not even a minute later, Timmy Goldman capitalized on a long feed from Cesar Correa and finished his own rebound to knot the game at 1-1 at 4:57. Victor Parreiras responded to regain the lead by burying a free kick at 7:26 to send the Tropics into the break up by a goal.

The second quarter was not as favorable for the boys in blue and white as Florida scored a staggering four goals in the quarter to UCFC’s none. Early on, Kyle Williams kept the momentum going for Florida, potting a wallascora goal while falling down to put the Tropics up 3-1 at 1:18 in the second quarter. Drew Ruggles unleashed a shot to widen the Tropics’ margin to three goals at 11:19. Lucas Teixeira put his jersey number up on the board for the Tropics’ fifth and Ruggles scored his second of the game into an empty net after UCFC elected to go for a sixth attacker with 12 seconds left in the quarter. 

UCFC came out of the gate looking fresh and energized. Nate Bourdeau’s shot from deep was deflected in by Joey Tavernese to put UCFC on the board for their second goal of the game and for the first time since early in the contest. That momentum was halted following a power play goal from Ricardo Carvalho to make it 7-2 Tropics. Parreiras tallied his second of the game to extend the Florida lead to 8-2, but Bourdeau responded just 12 seconds later to make it 8-3. 

The Tropics’ goal scoring cooled off in the fourth quarter compared to their sizable pace in the previous three quarters, but Reget scored his second of the game at 7:34 to solidify the game at 9-3 Tropics. 

Utica City’s next game is on December 28th against Florida. Tickets are available for that contest at uticacityfc.com/tickets.