SEGURA, DEFENSE LEAD UTICA CITY TO HOME OPENING VICTORY

Utica, N.Y. – Utica City jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back as they cruised to a 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Blast Sunday afternoon at the Adirondack Bank Center. Christian Segura scored twice, while Liam Callahan and Ricardo Diegues chipped in with one goal each. Andrew Coughlin made seven saves on nine shots in the win.

Segura struck first for Utica 4:27 into the game, running down a loose ball, cutting inside and finishing with right foot the from the top of the box.

Callahan doubled the lead with 3:50 to go in the second quarter beating the keeper in the top left corner off of a free kick. Segura chipped the keeper from beyond midfielder 1:25 later to extend City’s lead to 3-0.

Neither team was able to generate much offense in the third quarter until Vini Dantas scored after a scramble in front of the Utica net at the 12:32 mark. City responded five seconds later when Diegues put back a rebound off a Logan Roberts shot.

Dantas cut Utica’s lead in half with 5:46 to play in the fourth quarter after Utica was assessed a questionable blue card for handling in the box. Utica killed off the remainder of the penalty and shut down the final Baltimore assault to come away with the victory.

Utica City is back in action Friday night when they hit the road to battle the Rochester Lancers. Kickoff at the ROC Dome Arena is at 7:05 p.m. The game can be viewed on MASL.tv. Utica City’s next home game is Sunday, December 8 at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased at www.empirestatetix.com or by calling the Box Office at 315-790-9070.

Scoring Summary

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