ROCHESTER, NY – Sophomore Myles Palmers scored a pair of early goals for the Roberts Wesleyan University Men's Soccer team to give the Redhawks an early 2-0 lead but the University of the District of Columbia responded with a late first-half goal and two more in the second half to steal a 3-2 victory Thursday in the first round of the East Coast Conference Tournament.

The #6 seed Firebirds (6-7-4) advance to face #2 seed Mercy Sunday in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

Palmer opened the scoring as he took a centering pass from fifth-year player Tamas Nagy in the seventh minute of the game and buried a shot into the corner of the goal for the early lead.

Just 1:16 later another crossing pass into the box was mishandled by the UDC defense and Palmer picked up the loose ball and scored again to double the lead for the Redhawks (9-7-1).

With 11 minutes left in the opening half, the Firebirds trimmed the lead with its first goal of the contest and the teams went into the halftime intermission with the 2-1 Roberts lead.

UDC tied the score just 3:09 into the second half and then took a 3-2 lead six minutes later and then held on for the win.

The Redhawks produced several scoring chances in the closing minutes but UDC goalkeeper Giovanni Llamas made four saves in the final 15 minutes to secure the win.

Roberts finished with twice as many shots (20-10) but the shots on goal total was just 10-7 in favor of the Redhawks. The Firebirds had nine corner kicks with eight coming in the first half.