ROCHESTER, NY – The Cortland men's soccer team erupted for four second-half goals to earn a 4-0 road win at Rochester on Friday evening. The Red Dragons improve to 1-0, while the Yellowjackets drop to 0-1 after the season opener for both teams.
Josh Carroll (Port Jefferson Station/Consewogue) scored a pair of goals to lead the Red Dragons, while
Owen Brant (Loudonville/Shaker) and
Flavio Di Santo (Rome, Italy/Ecampus) each netted their first collegiate goals for Cortland.
Gabe Garcia (Haverstraw/North Rockland) provided two assists, and
Scott Schuyler (Cincinnatus) and
Jake Hutter (Smithtown/Smithtown West) chipped in an assist apiece.
Jordan Ott (Fort Worth, TX/Southwest Christian) made five saves for the shutout victory.
Pasquale Carusone and Sebastian Ballesteros led Rochester with two shots on goal each, and Gavin Fischer had the other shot on goal for the Yellowjackets.
Rochester held an 8-4 edge in shot attempts, and a 4-2 advantage in shots on goal in the opening. Ott stopped all four shots he faced, while Rochester goalkeeper Ben Ziegler saved both of his attempts, to keep the game scoreless into halftime.
Just three minutes into the second half, Ott was called into action for his fifth and final save of the game, and the Red Dragon defense was able to hold Rochester without a shot on goal for the last 40-plus minutes.
Cortland broke through for its first goal in the 61st minute. Garcia floated a cross from the right side to the back post, where Carroll was able to shake off a defender and send a diving header into the right corner of the net.
The Red Dragons doubled their lead ten minutes later, as Brant collected a floated pass from
Jack Sargeant (Mineola) and dribbled past two defenders to score with a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
Garcia and Carroll connected for a second time in the game on a similar goal in the 79th minute to make it 3-0. Schuyler collected the ball down the right sideline, sent a short pass to Garcia just atop the 18-yard box, who curled a cross to the back post where Carroll headed another shot past the keeper.
Cortland finished the scoring in the 86th minute of the contest. Hutter chased down a loose ball after a defensive misplay and sent a sliding pass to Di Santo in front of goal. The sophomore quickly slid a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give Cortland the final 4-0 margin.
