From University of Rochester Athletics
When you play an opponent with offensive power – including technical ability and speed – a coach has an option. He can either have his team sit back, defend, and wait for the opportunity to counter-attack or he can order his players forward, trying to get an early edge.
Rochester chose to go forward on Sunday and it paid off with a high-scoring victory over Keuka College in the 2016 Men's Soccer Flower City Classic. The Yellowjackets scored six first-half goals enroute to an 8-1 victory.
The Yellowjackets (2-0) broke it open with two goals in a span of 67 seconds, then adding two more just 2:15 apart, and another three minutes before halftime.
Seven men scored at least one goal. Mitch Volis had two goals. Mario Yanez Tapia, Alex DiPerna, Zach Lawlor, Aleks Dombrowski, Aidan Miller, and Cristian Baltier scored single goals. Dombrowski, Bryce Ikeda, Lucas Loecher, Milan Fatschel, Peter Martin, and Gabe Sarch had assists.
The Keuka (1-1) goal was scored by Paulin Kolodja. He drilled a free kick from 22 yards with just over seven minutes left.
Patrick Conway played the first 74:41 in goal for Rochester. Josh Katz finished the last 15:19. For Keuka, Willie Romero played 70:47 and Christopher Spaulding played 19:13. Romero made six saves, Spaulding had one.
Rochester won the Flower City title for the eighth straight year and the 14th time in 27 years. The Yellowjackets won both games for six points in the standings. Kean University and Keuka were both 1-1 (Kean finished second on goal difference), and St. John Fisher finished fourth. The Cardinals were 0-2.
DiPerna was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The Best Offensive Player was Rochester's Jeff Greblick. The Best Defensive Player was Tim Dutchak of Kean.
Rochester opened the scoring at 7:37. Conway's clearing kick to midfield was targeted for Greblick. A Keuka defender headed it away, but it fell to the foot of Yanez Tapia. He dribbled downfield, accelerating past defenders and scored on a breakaway.
At 21:18, Fatschel crossed the ball from left wing. Yanez Tapia missed a bicycle attempt but DiPerna collected the ball and shot to the lower left hand corner. Lawlor made it 3-0 just over a minute later. Ikeda's long throw-in found him rising in the center of the box to head the ball into the left corner.
Volis scored his first goal at 36:22, knocking home a rebound of his own miss. At 38:37, Loecher went down left wing and crossed to Dombrowski for the fifth goal. Dombrowski fed Martin who passed to Volis for a quick counter down the middle just before halftime.
In the second half, Miller chipped a shot off the left post after a pass from Sarch on right wing (76:31). Kolodja's free kick at 83:03 helped Keuka avoid a shutout. Baltier scored on a breakaway at 84:22. He ran in, but his first shot was parried by Spaulding. The rebound came right back to him and he scored.