ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's soccer team tied the visiting Stevens Institute of Technology, 1-1 Saturday evening in a very physical game.
 
"We knew it was going to be a tough contest against Stevens, we feel like we did our program a lot of good by the way we played, the way we showed our Saxon spirit, and showed them the passion, desire and commitment to work like we had 11 players on the field but we only had 10," head coach Tracy Blake said. "We played with 10 men for over an hour and they scored right after we went down to 10-man so it's an accolade. My hat's off to the lads they played really well and they listened to what the coaching staff had to say. We could have stolen it."
 
The Saxons (2-4-1, 1-0-1 Empire 8) lone goal sored on came in the first half of play after senior midfielder Miguel Reyes (Valencia, Venezuela, La Salle) received a red card. On the ensuing free kick, Andrew Masur was able to find Matthew Hammons to give Stevens the 1-0 advantage in the 29^th minute.
 
Alfred did not let the man advantage get to them as sophomore forward Evan Merkey (Webster, NY/Webster Schroder) was able to corral the deflect shot off goalie Aaron Henry to tie the game in the 67^th minute.
 
Stevens had a slight advantage in shots taken, 19-11 and shots on goal, 8-5. Stevens also had more fouls in the contest, 22-17. Alfred had the advantage in corner kicks, 11-8.
 
Alfred begins a four game road trip starting Tuesday, September 26^th, as they take on host University of Rochester at 7 p.m.