February 24, 2024

EAST ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Rochester Lancers continued their unbeaten run by recording a 12-3 victory over Baltimore Arsenal in Major Arena Soccer League 2 action at the Total Sports Experience on Friday night.

The win boosted the Lancers to a perfect 6-0-0 and 18 points atop the East Division as they reached the mid-point of the 12-game season. Second-place Baltimore dropped to 2-3.

Rochester has reached double digits in goals in all six of its matches.

Matt D'Amico, who entered the game with three goals, and team leading goal-scoring leader Ali Alomari (15 goals) recorded hat-tricks. Ryan Curtis added a brace, and Darren Toby, Jake Schindler, Davinson Diaz and Taner Bay contributed single tallies.

Baltimore goalkeeper Alejandro Sosa, who had an outstanding match with 21 saves, was forced from the game after suffering an apparent arm injury in the waning minutes. Arsenal also lost midfielder-defender Michael Bernstein with an apparent injury early in the contest.

The Lancers outshot their foes, 50-26.

After surviving a couple of close calls by the visitors in the opening minute, the Lancers went on the offensive for a good portion of the first quarter.

Alomari lifted Rochester into the lead it never relinquished at 2:07, driving his left-side shot into the upper right corner past Sosa for his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Diaz received an assist.

Toby started the scoring sequence on the second goal before running toward the back left post. Tamas Nagy wound up se up the veteran defender, who powered a shot home for a two-goal advantage at 7:29.

D'Amico made it 3-0 at 9:39 as he used a wall pass to give himself the ball before blasting the ball past the goalie on the right side.

Goalkeeper Jakeb Mitchell made the save of the night for Rochester at 7:52, denying Kofi Forkuoh on a breakaway to keep Baltimore off the scoreboard.

Sosa ventured way too far out of the goal and was forced to foul Frank Ciliberto on the left side, as he was assessed a two-minute penalty for pushing. Since Arsenal did not have a backup keeper, midfielder-forward Brandon Bianchi was forced to don Sosa's goalie shirt for the ensuing shootout. Alomari almost botched the opportunity but managed to convert to the right side for a 4-0 lead at 9:39.

Ethan Watson spoiled Mitchell's shutout bid, running down the right flank before firing the ball past him at 11:03 to slice the lead to 4-1. Baltimore's Preston Garcia made it a two-goal game, putting home a rebound of a Mitchell save at 13:10.

Arsenal, which brought only 12 players on the road trip (Rochester had 16), began to tire in the quarter.

The Lancers took advantage of it by scoring four consecutive goals, thanks to some fine team play. They struck twice within a 24-second span to give themselves some breathing room. First, Konrad Zydowicz lofted a long ball from the left side that unmarked D'Amico headed in, at 6:07. Less than 30 seconds later, Schindler, the player-head coach, tallied his first goal of the year, putting home an August Finn wall pass at 6:31.

Diaz lifted Rochester into a five-goal lead at 7:48, placing an Alomari feed past Sosa. Curtis closed out the third-quarter scoring, burying an August pass from point-blank range at 10:45 for an 8-2 margin.

Rochester continued its dominance with four goals in the final period.

Bay ripped his 10th goal of the season to the near left side at 3:33, as the Lancers reached double figures for the sixth consecutive contest. D'Amico (Alomari assist) at 3:37 and Curtis (Eduardo Figueroa assist) made it 11-2 at 4:41 before Alomari (D'Amico assist) closed out the hosts' scoring at 11:15.

Baltimore's Joel Musa completed the scoring with 57 seconds remaining in the match.

Rookie goalkeeper Andrew Taylor, a Baldwinsville, N.Y. native who attends Brockport State, made his Lancers' debut after Curtis' second goal. He replaced Mitchell at 4:41.

The teams will battle again on Saturday night at TST at 7:45 p.m.