The Harrisburg Heat wrapped up a two game weekend with their second matchup against Utica City FC. After a Utica victory the previous evening, UCFC won the second leg by a score of 11-8.
Utica scored just 1:49 into the game with Keaton Woods Mohamed Ndiaye scored goals in the opening minutes.
Harrisburg would claw one back midway through the first as Danny DiPrima picked up a Joey Tavernese pass from the board and finished to make the score 3-1. Tavernese found another response for the Heat, blasting a bouncing ball into the net. Harrisburg got a quick double as Tavernese hit a shot that rebounded right into the path of Roshawn Panton. The first quarter would hold at that scoreline, with UCFC leading by 1, 4-3.
Things slowed down in the second period between the two sides. Five minutes in, Dominic Francis found a strike to tie things up at 4. Both defenses stepped up as it was five minutes from the Francis goal until the next goal was scored giving Utica City the lead again.
Thirty-five seconds into the third, Ronaldinho would complete his hat trick after taking advantage of a rebound off of Franck Tayou’s shot. Woods continued the offense with a top-corner laser of his own to make the score 8-4. Harrisburg was not out of it just yet–the Heat found a goal off of the head of Joshua Dimatteo to cut the Utica lead to three at the 6:12 mark in the third.
UCFC got the four-goal lead back with another Ronaldinho goal–his fourth of the match. In the closing seconds of the period, Tavernese picked up loose change in the box and found Derek Ramirez to cash in and the third quarter ended with UCFC on top, 9-6.
Harrisburg brought out the 6th attacker at the beginning of the fourth quarter, leaving the net empty in hope of continuing the comeback. After 8 minutes of stout defending, UCFC took advantage of the empty net to get into double digits, with Woods scoring his third of the night. However, the extra attacker would push Harrisburg back into it, as Tavernese tapped one home to make it 10-7. Then, in an interesting turn of events, Utica would join Harrisburg by removing goalie Andrew Coughlin and going to 6 attackers themselves for short moments. Dylan Hundelt would grab another empty netter to make it 11-7.
DiPrima scored a goal in the closing seconds to make the final score 11-8.
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