ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Senior Dylan Ruiz scored two goals in the final 3:37 as the Roberts Wesleyan College men's soccer team rallied for a 5-5 tie with visiting Saint Thomas Aquinas College in the East Coast Conference opener for both teams on Saturday at Roberts Stadium.
Roberts scored three goals in the first 5:44 before STAC, which finished tied for first in the ECC's Preseason Coaches' Poll, scored five straight to take a 5-3 lead.
"It was a great response, I am so proud of the guys," Roberts coach Scott Reber said. "It would have been easy to fold up our tent, but the guys kept battling."
Ruiz scored his first off assists from Tamas Nagy and Ollie Ardle with 3:37 to play and then converted a penalty kick into the lower right corner of the net with 1:08 to play, capping a wild afternoon of soccer.
"When it comes to PKs, I just pick a side and shoot," said Ruiz, who has four goals this season and is the career leader at Roberts with 54. "I don't get fazed. If it goes in, it goes in and it usually does."
Nagy also scored twice and Alex Perez Vega also scored for the Redhawks (2-3-1, 0-0-1).
Nagy opened the scoring just 1:29 into the game. Ruiz headed the ball ahead to Nagy, who used his left foot to finish from just inside the box.
Perez Vega quickly sailed a 60-yard free kick over the head of the STAC keeper for his third goal of the season with 39:44 left in the half.
Nagy netted his third of the season just 30 seconds later, taking a nifty feed from Hunter Salisbury and finishing from 15 yards out.
"We came out fired up," Reber said.
"Coach had a great motivational speech before the game," Nagy said. "We know that the start of the season has been a little bit hard for us and we need to stay together moving forward.
STAC (2-1-2, 0-0-1) made it 3-1 in the 41^st minute and Jorge Umana scored in the 56^th minute to cut the Roberts lead to one goal. The Spartans tied the game on a goal by Dan Dougill in the 81^st minute and then took the lead 57 seconds later.
Ernesto Le Goaziou gave STAC a 5-3 lead in the 87^th minute, but Ruiz connected 19 seconds later to spark Roberts' comeback.
"I think going forward that we just need to pick our heads up, watch the film and correct some of our mistakes," Ruiz said. "I am just looking forward to the next practice and the next game."
"We are a strong team," Nagy said. "I know that we have power and we have the energy to work hard for each other. We just have to fix our mistakes and hopefully move forward and have a long season."
The Redhawks play a non-conference road game against Seton Hill at noon on Wednesday.