PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – Four different goal scorers, two in each half powered the 7th-ranked University of Rochester men's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over Hobart College on Saturday evening at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
Rochester (4-0-1) remains unbeaten on the 2023 season and has now posted 17 goals through five games, the most tallies for a Yellowjacket team through that many games since the 2013 campaign.
The loss drops Hobart to 1-4-1 on the season.
Santi Ponce Ocampo,
EliJose Araujo,
Othman Belhseine and
Jeremiah Anandarajah were the scorers for Rochester, with Belseine (two),
Kol Bassuk, Araujo and
Ashton Prescott picking up assists on the stat sheet.
In goal,
Santino Lupica-Tondo earned the win, making two saves in 90 minutes of action.
Ponce Ocampo got the scoring started for Rochester in the 20th minute off a terrific pass through traffic from Belhseine. UR's forward then took a sliding shot from eight yards along the right side and snuck the ball into the upper right corner of the goal.
Less than ten minutes later a long throw in led to UR's second tally by Araujo. Bassuk launch a throw from the left sideline to Belhseine who flicked a header into the crease where Araujo was waiting for a hard header into the net.
As time was winding down in the first half, Bassuk looked to make it 3-0 Rochester, but his header attempt off a Rochester corner kick just slipped high of the cage.
Hobart came out of intermission and quickly applied pressure, leading to a goal to cut the lead in half at the 46:02 mark. Chris Friedlander connected on a header goal off a long throw in from the left, similar to that of Rochester's second goal. Nolan Fierro notched the assist as Friedlander's shot found the twine on the right side of the net, past a lunging Lupica-Tondo.
The Yellowjackets responded in the 54th minute. After a turnover, Araujo slipped a pass up to Belhseine who outran a defender and took a hard right-footed blast from the edge of the box into the upper right corner for a 3-1 lead.
At 73:22, Anandarajah completed the scoring on the night, depositing a tough-angle header from the left corner inside the right post after a long, looping free kick from Prescott.
Hobart looked to count in the next few minutes, but had two chances and a corner in the 77th minute turned away by the Yellowjacket defense.
Overall in the game, the Statesmen held a 13-7 edge in shots, but Rochester had seven on goal to Hobart's three. Corner kicks were nearly even, with Hobart taking five to UR's four on the night.
Up next for the Yellowjackets is a short road trip to St. John Fisher University on Tuesday evening, with kickoff set for 7 pm.
