June 24, 2019

LADY LANCERS, JUNE 23rd

ROCHESTER, N.Y. --  Dori Rizzo and Francesca Lee each had a brace to power the Rochester Lady Lancers to an emphatic 7-1 victory over the Worcester Smiles at Charles A. Schiano Field at Aquinas Institute on Sunday afternoon.

The win, the Lady Lancers' first at home this season, kept their hopes alive of reaching the United Women's Soccer playoffs with three matches remaining in the regular season. The Lancers, who are 1-1-2 at home, improved to 2-3-2 overall. Worcester dropped to 0-8.

The seven goals were a team record and the six-goal margin of victory tied the team record. The Lady Lancers defeated Worcester earlier this season 6-0.

"It was a must win game for us, for sure and the girls stepped it up," head coach Sal Galvano said. "We gave them a challenge, they stepped up to it which was nice."

After playing Friday night -- a 2-1 defeat at Syracuse DA -- Galvano said that he felt it was important to rotate the lineup and give an opportunity to players who haven't play a lot this season.

Galvano made five changes to his Starting XI.

"It just shows the depth we have on the team," he said. "Some of the players who didn't play too much on Friday night played today. So, it good to see those players step up.

"It was good to watch the team step up with new players. What was nice to me was watching players who hadn't played a lot step into a game, play almost 90 minutes, and still play at the level we want them to play. it shows what the depth we have. It was nice to watch everyone really contribute to the team."

It took a while for Lady Lancers to score, but once they did, there was no stopping them.

Rizzo tallied her first goal in the 26th minute as Taylor Wingerden struck in the 38th minute.

Jada Sargeant scored her first goal of the season in the 39th minute to boost Rochester to a 3-0 halftime advantage.

The Lady Lancers continued their assault in the final half.

Only three minutes in, Rizzo, off a Sergeant assist, made it 4-0.

Then Francesca Lee scored twice sandwiched around a Worcester penalty kick in the 57th minute. Lee found the back of the net in the 55th and 57th minute as Rochester took a commanding 6-1 lead.

Leah  Wengender put the finishing touches on the game by beating the goalkeeper with a chip shot from the top of the penalty area in the final minutes, her fourth goal this season.

Rochester will host the New England Mutiny in its final home match of the regular season at Aquinas Institute next Sunday, June 30 at 2 p.m.

 

 

Rochester Lancers, June 23rd

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Despite playing with only 10 men, the Rochester Lancers pulled out a 1-0 victory over Syracuse FC in a National Premier Soccer League game at Charles A. Schiano Field at Aquinas Institute on Sunday evening.

Only five minutes after coming on, Isaac Kissi scored in the 77th minute to boost the Lancers to the win.

The result kept Rochester (5-1-0, 15 points) atop the East Conference while winless Syracuse FC fell to 0-5-1. The Lancers also are sixth in the NPSL power rankings.

"We kept going after it because we didn't want to leave any points on the table," Lancers head coach Doug Miller said. "We just found out that Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 4-1, which is a huge result for us. So, I told the boys in the locker room the first team to 21 points is going to win the division. We're at 15. We've got our next home game against Erie, who's struggling a bit. That gets us to 18 and we have three more games to go."

Rochester, which dominated possession, was forced to play the final 21 minutes at a man disadvantage after Wyatt Scott was red carded for a hard foul on a Syracuse player.

"I knew they were going to bunker in," Miller said. "I told these guys, 'Right from the get-go we needed to jump on them and dictate the flow of the game.' When it comes to the 70th or 80th minute, it becomes more difficult. We put more pressure on ourselves to score a goal. And that's exactly what happened.

"We were trying to go through the center of their defense, which is the best part of their team. We finally figured it out when we made the change."

Kissi, who came on in the 71st minute, put in a left-wing cross by Lukas Fernandes at the far post for his first goal of the season.

Goalkeeper Andrew Coughlin recorded the shutout.

"We created a ton of chances," Miller said. "I don't even know if they had a shot on goal. Defensively, we were solid. We've just got to create more chances and solidify scoring goals a little bit more."

The Lancers' final home game of the NPSL regular season will be against the Erie Commodores at Aquinas Institute on next Sunday at 5 p.m. The match will be the second game of a doubleheader as the Lady Lancers will host the New England Munity at 2 p.m.

These teams will meet again at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, N.Y. on July 5 at 7 p.m.