ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Rochester Lancers fell to the Missouri Comets by a score of 13-4 this afternoon at the Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial. 6,528 fans took in the first home game in Rochester Lancers history.
The first quarter of play saw a hard fought, physical defensive battle take place. Vahid Assadpour opened the scoring for the Comets as his shot deflected off of Lancers defender Elliot Fauske and past goalkeeper Neal Kitson with a little more than a minute left in the quarter. The scoreboard read 2-0 Comets after one quarter of play.
The second quarter saw the Comets extend their lead to 4-0 with a goal from defender Ryan Junge. The Lancers bounced back with newly signed Jeremy Ortiz pulling the Lancers back to within two points on a breakaway goal. The Lancers earned the first power play of the game when Ryan Junge went to the box for two minutes after tripping Lancers forward Mauricio Salles with a little less than two minutes left in the half. The Lancers were unable to cash in and the score remained 4-2 Comets at the half.
The second half got off to a highlight reel start as Ryan Junge scored a long three point goal just 55 seconds into the half. A little over a minute later, the Lancers were able to pull back within three on a highlight reel goal of their own. Goalkeeper Neal Kitson played a long ball to Lancers forward Mauricio Salles and then Salles proceeded to flick the ball up and then power a bicycle kick goal to the upper corner of the goal that Comets goalkeeper Danny Waltman could only look at. With less than a minute to go in the third quarter, the Comets extended their lead to 9-4 when Assadpour nutmegged Kitson for his second goal of the game. The Lancers had some late pressure, but the third quarter came to an end with the Comets up by five.
COURTESY ROCHESTER LANCERS
The Comets again got a goal early in the quarter as Leo Gibson banged home a rebound after an illegal procedure free kick just 18 seconds into the fourth quarter. Lancers' Head coach Billy Andracki replaced Kitson in goal with Leo after the Gibson goal to try and spark his team as they trailed 11-4 at that point. Midway through the fourth quarter, Christiano Diaz extended the Comets lead to 13-4 as he took the ball off of Lubo’s chest as he tried to clear the ball out of the box following a big save by Leo. The Lancers pulled the goalkeeper in favor of the extra attacker with seven minutes left to try and get back into the game. With less than a minute to go in the game, Salles drew the second blue card of the game on Missouri. This time it was John Sosa going to the box for two minutes for holding. Extra attacker Will Kletzkien took a three point shot that was saved by Danny Waltman just before time expired.
