April 5, 2024
WICHITA, Kansas - Dominating on both sides of the ball, the Rochester Lancers recorded a 6-3 victory over the Iowa Raptors in the quarterfinals of the Major Arena Soccer League 2 playoffs at Hartman Arena on Friday afternoon.
The game wasn't as close as the final score as the Lancers enjoyed a 6-0 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Their defense played an outstanding game, limiting opportunities and blocking many shots in front of goalkeeper Jakeb Mitchell.
The Lancers, who have won all their 13 games this season, will meet the winner of the Wichita Wings-Atletico Orlando quarterfinal, which was played on Friday night, in the semifinals on Saturday.
Rochester also gained a measure of revenge over the Raptors, who defeated the Lancers late last season and kept the team out of the playoffs.
Matt D'Amico bagged a brace, including a short-handed goal. Taner Bay also scored two goals and contributed an assist. Ali Alomari and Alex Harling (two assists) added single tallies.
Harling was named the No. 1 star of the match. Bay was second and Mitchell was third. Mitchell made 11 saves as the Raptors outshot the Lancers, 29-17.
"We knew every game is going to be tough," Bay said. "We wanted to play our system the way we've been playing. We know if we outwork every team and are focused on defense first, goals will come."
Rochester rolled to a 5-0 halftime advantage, making the most of their six shots.
"Iowa has a great team," Lancers player-head coach Jake Schindler said. "They came out and pressed us every step of the way. We're just trying to stick to what we do best, play our system. I think it really benefited us in the first half."
Indeed, it did.
Only 26 seconds after the opening kickoff, the Lancers celebrated their first goal. Mitchell started the scoring sequence with a long throw into the Iowa zone. Harling hit the ball off the right-wing boards. The ball went to Alomari, who slotted the ball past goalie Matteo Anzallo.
D'Amico put in a rebound of his own shot off the right boards to boost Rochester to a 2-0 margin at 3:42.
After the Raptors' Robert Kelly received a blue card for tripping Schindler, the Lancers added to their lead with a power-play goal as Bay slotted home a Darren Toby feed at the back post for a 3-0 advantage at 10:27.
Rochester continued its dominance in the second period.
With Rodrigo Almeida serving a two-minute penalty for elbowing, D'Amico tallied an unassisted short-handed goal to up the lead to 4-0 at 4:00. Harling extended the margin to five goals at halftime as he found the net off a Bay assist at 7:22.
Enjoying a 5-on-3 man advantage due to blue-card penalties to Brian Marguila and Sarrive Rukakiza, Bay connected for his second goal of the match, ripping a long distance shot from the left side at 11:07of the third period.
Iowa spoiled Mitchell's shutout bid, scoring at 5:04 of the fourth quarter as Ronaldo Rojas found the net off a Chase Peterson pass. The goal snapped Mitchell's personal scoreless streak of 146 minutes, which is quite a rare achievement in indoor soccer.
Rukakiza tallied for the Raptors at the far-left post with 2:14 remaining for their second goal. Nico Williams assisted. Brett Petricek closed out the scoring for Iowa with 16 seconds left.
Former Lancers forward Andrew Hoxie came out of retirement to help the Lancers this weekend. While he did not score, he proved to be a valuable target man on attack.
The Lancers' next challenge will be against either Wichita or Orlando. They bested Orlando all four times during the regular season and haven't played the host team.
"A Wichita team we haven't seen before," Schindler said. "We've watched some game tape. I'm excited for the new challenge. I think it's going to be a really different game and one that we're going to be prepared for."