PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – Aidan Miller and Mitch Volis scored two goals in a span of just over two minutes and Rochester held off Alvernia University, 3-2, at Edwin Fauver Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
It was the seventh straight win for the Yellowjackets (7-2). Alvernia is 1-8-2 overall now. The Golden Wolves hit the post once and the crossbar once before they took a 1-0 lead 25 minutes into the game.
 
The woodwork denied Alvernia's Cody Hart twice. With barely 11 minutes gone by, he crept up the right side and lofted a chip to the back post. The ball struck the juncture of the post and the crossbar, then was hurriedly cleared. Seven minutes later, with Alvernia shirts flooding the Rochester penalty area, Hart tried a bicycle kick. The ball struck the crossbar and again, was bundled out of trouble.
 
Shortly thereafter, Rochester launched its first solid chance. Volis came down the left side and hooked a cross into the penalty area looking for Miller. Alvernia's defense yielded a corner kick. On the corner, goalkeeper Luca Grippi palmed the ball out of the area.
 
There were less than 20 minutes left in the first half when Hart found a go-ahead goal after hitting the woodwork twice himself. The Golden Wolves earned a free kick on the left side, 10 yards over midfield. Ammit Bhogal struck the ball across the field to Hart. From deep on right wing, he angled a pass to the center of the box and Ethan LaVerdure headed it into the low right corner.
 

Rochester's Caden Dowd came close with the equalizer later in the first half. UR earned a corner kick which Nate Leopold took. He angled it to Will Eisold at the back post. Eisold headed it back towards the middle where Dowd volleyed over the crossbar.
 
About a minute later, he made up for it. He threw the ball long into the center of the box where James Barata steered the equalizer into the net. The Yellowjackets nearly grabbed a go-ahead goal in the final 90 seconds of the first half. A corner kick from Nate Leopold went to the near post, trying to sneak it past the goalkeeper. Alvernia's Luca Grippi (three saves) caught it, then covered up as he fell to his knees.
 
Rochester scored twice in bang-bang fashion early in the second half. In the 53^rd minute, Volis raced down the left side and hit a ground service into the center of the area where Miller struck it first-time under the dive of Grippi for a 2-1 Rochester lead. Two minutes later, Volis ran free again, cutting a waist-high pass from the left flank that Miller dove for and headed the ball into the low right corner just before Grippi could react.
 
Alvernia pulled one back rapidly. Ryan Kuster, the leading scorer for the Wolves dribbled forward and from 25 yards away, scored to the low right corner with UR goalkeeper Hugh Curran unable to corral it.
 
Rochester is off until next Sunday when the Yellowjackets open the UAA soccer season at Washington University-St. Louis. UR's next home date is October 13 against the University of Chicago.
 
Alvernia returns home to play Cabrini College on Wednesday.