DIEGUES GUIDES CITY TO VICTORY

Towson, MD – Ben Ramin scored 5:48 into overtime to give Utica City FC a 7-6 victory against the Baltimore Blast Saturday night at the SECU Arena. Ricardo Diegues scored four goals for Utica, who improved their record to 4-1 to start the season. Diegues also assisted on Ramin's winner.

After Baltimore struck early in the first quarter, it took Utica only 76 seconds to even the score. City striker Ricardo Diegues evened the contest at one goal apiece with a gorgeous left-footed effort into the bottom corner to beat Blast goalkeeper William Vanzela. The Brazilian striker netted his second of the quarter courtesy of an inch-perfect pass from midfielder Nate Bourdeau. Diegues tapped home Bourdeau's gorgeous feed to give City an early 2-1 lead.

Two goals from Baltimore gave the home side a 3-2 lead, but Utica's #9 scored 44 seconds later to even the score at three. The goal was created by Onua Obasi. The defender made a wonderful slaloming run, dribbling past multiple Baltimore defenders before Obasi banked a pass off the boards for Diegues to tap in for the hat trick.

Baltimore tallied the only two goals of the second quarter to capture a 5-3 lead to close the opening half. The Blast managed to outshoot Utica City 16-14 through two quarters at the SECU Arena.

Utica dominated possession of the ball for the majority of the third quarter but was unable to find a goal.

City rallied with three goals in the fourth quarter to spark the comeback. The comeback started after the referees awarded Utica with a penalty shot after Blast defender Adriano Dos Santos handled the ball in the penalty area. Cristhian Segura stepped up to fired past Vanzela for this seventh goal of the campaign. Bourdeau scored his first of the year to even the contest at 5-5 before Diegues added his fourth of the match to give Utica City a 6-5 lead. Baltimore would add the equalizer with halfway through the frame with a tap from Melo and the game would head to overtime. An MVP performance on the night from Diegues earned him an assist as Ben Ramin earned the game winning goal in golden goal overtime.

Utica City is back in action on December 28 when they host the Harrisburg Heat. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available at the Box Office, over the phone by calling (315) 790-9070, or online at www.empirestatetix.com. The game can be viewed on MASL.tv.

Scoring Summary

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