ROCHESTER, NY – Graduate student Cuneyt Vardar and sophomore Jake Pawlika each scored first half goals to give the Nazareth Men's Soccer team an early lead but Utica University came back with three goals in the second half including the game winner as time expired to post a 3-2 Empire 8 victory Saturday at Golden Flyer Stadium.

Vardar scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season 11 minutes into the contest for the early Nazareth (5-3-1 overall, 1-1-1 Empire 8) lead and Pawlkia – who assisted on the Vardar goal – scored in the 34th minutes to give the Golden Flyers a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, Utica (5-2-1, 2-0-1 Empire 8) rallied and trimmed the lead to 2-1 three minutes into the period.

The Pioneers applied offensive pressure down the stretch and knotted the score at 2-2 with 49 seconds left to play and scored the game winner as time expired in the match for the 3-2 win.

Sophomore Logan Menna finished with 10 saves with five in each half.

Nazareth will play the next two games on the road with Empire 8 games at Alfred Wednesday night and at Russell Sage Saturday.