From University of Rochester Athletics

The scoreboard says 4-0 Rochester and yes, the Yellowjackets went on a second half tear to post a decided victory over Alfred University on Tuesday evening.
 
Geoffrey Rouin scored two goals. Josh Cooley had a goal and an assist. JR Eisold scored a goal, too. Alex Di Perna, Mitch Volis, and Stefan Sarkovich had assists.
 
In goal, Redd Brown had one save. Alfred's Chris Gutierrez made nine saves for the Saxons and had plenty of other scratches and bumps on the jersey from charging out to stop Rochester penetrators. UR held a 23-5 edge in shots, 13-1 in shots on goal. It was 13-3 overall in the second half. Gutierrez was valiant in coming off his line and was helped further by a successful offsides trap. Rochester was whistled for eight such violations.
 
UR improved to 6-1-2 overall. Alfred, which had won two of its last three coming in (a pair of shutouts and a 1-1 result with Stevens), is 2-6-1.
 
Yes, the offense was dominant, particularly after intermission, but chalk  this one up to the Yellowjacket defensive effort. Rochester allowed two shots in the first 45 minutes – neither on goal – as the home team skillfully defended the 1-0 lead provided by Rouin with the game nine minutes old.
 
Lucas Loecher, Nate Leopold, Nik Angyal, and Lasha Alkhazishvili crowded the area, kept the purple-clad Saxons from clustering in the box, and turned away Alfred's forays into the penalty area. The Yellowjacket back line got the ball to the midfielders and they started carrying it upfield and spraying passes to the front line.
 
Rouin netted his sixth goal of the year with a hard shot to the left corner with Josh Cooley picking up the assist. Midway through the first half, Cristian Baltier played a corner kick from the right corner to Alkhazishvili parked just outside the far post. His shot went wide left.
 
Alkhazishvili did his job at the other end with the game just over a half hour old. The ball swung dangerously into the crease with plenty of visitors looking to pounce, but he scrambled it out of danger.
 
In the closing minutes of the opening half, Rochester looked like it would build a 2-0 lead but Sarkovich's centering ball from left wing resulted in a shot high over the bar by the charging Bryce Ikeda. AU nearly equalized in the 45th minute. Seamus Doyle tried a header that deflected off a Rochester shirt, caromed into the crossbar, then over for corner kick. That proved to be harmless as the period ended.
 
UR stepped up the offensive pressure in the second half and was rewarded with two goals in the first 11 minutes. Di Perna centered it from right wing and Cooley drove it to the low right corner at 51:54. Less than five minutes later, Volis crossed the ball from left wing and Rouin had a easy tap-in for his seventh goal of the season. Eisold scored his first collegiate goal in the 67th minute. Sarkovich drove a corner from the left side to the back post and Eisold headed it down and into the net for the 4-0 final.
 
Notes: Before the match began, Rochester's Aleks Dombrowski was honored in a brief ceremony. Dombrowski was selected as a Garnish Scholar Athlete. These awards are given to the top 10 senior athletes at UR. They are given for a combination of athletic skill, academic achievement, and community service. The award was presented by Associate Athletics Director Kristine Shanley.