After losing two All-America forwards to graduation, the question surrounding the men's soccer team at Rochester was clear: who will score the goals?
It took three minutes and change to find an answer Friday night.
Senior Tyler Green boomed in two goals and freshman Robin Hargadon had one to highlight a 3-1 victory over SUNY Oswego in the opening round of the Flower City Soccer Tournament at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
Rochester's win propels the Yellowjackets into the championship match against Wisconsin-Plattevile, a 5-4 overtime winner over St. John Fisher. The title game will be played at 3 pm Sunday. Fisher duels Oswego for third place at noon.
Just over three minutes into the match, the Yellowjackets earned a free kick along the left sideline. Senior Brian Tuohy drove it into the center of the box and Green re-directed it into the upper left corner of the goal at 3:20 for a 1-0 lead.
Green and Tuohy threatened the Oswego goal a number of times - they eventually combined on the clincher with 20 minutes to play. Rochester applied steady pressure throughout the night and in one sequence midway through the second half, bandied the ball around the Laker penalty box causing all sorts of havoc but no goals. Oswego goalkeeper Sean Sessa was equal to the challenge (six saves), in one case deflecting a shot with his thigh four yards off the line. Minutes later, he dove to the left to palm a 15-yard blast wide for a corner kick. And the Yellowjackets were denied another goal when Rorey Lopez cracked a long shot off the left post.
Hargadon made his debut as a goalscorer five minutes after reporting on to the pitch for Green. Nick Mikolenko, solid on the back line all night, played a ball straight up the middle of the field and found Hargadon running unmarked through the Laker back line. The pass reached him in stride and he drove a low shot from the center of the box to the right corner at 27:42.
Oswego cut a goal off the lead three minutes later. The Lakers won a free kick at midfield. Scott Vanoostveen hit it to the edge of the penalty area and Greg Blette headed it smartly into the lower right corner of the net at 30:15.
Rochester's third goal came off a superb one-on-one effort by Green. Tuohy was the orchestrator again, pumping the ball from midfield to Green's feet more than 20 yards from goal. Green angled around one defender, beat a second off the dribble, and got past a third to slip the ball under the dive of Sessa from well inside the Oswego box.
Paco Corbalan made two saves for Rochester in goal.
