PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX - University of Rochester men's soccer came up short in their season opener, falling to SUNY Cortland, 4-0, on Friday evening at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
 
The Yellowjackets outshot Cortland, 17-8, but placed just five of their 17 shots on goal, while the Red Dragons converted their shots at a 50 percent clip.
 
The two sides battled to a stalemate in the first half, as UR's Ben Ziegler and Cortland's Jordan Ott combined for six first-half saves. Ziegler made his first on an attempt from Alberto Reyes in the 14th minute, while Ott saved Pasquale Carusone's shot just shy of the 25-minute mark of the first.
 
UR and SUNY Cortland combined for 12 shots and five corners in the first half, but both sides came up empty. In the 35th minute, Sebastian Ballesteros got a header on a throw-in from Kol Bassuk, but Ott made another save, Ott's first of two stops on attempts by Ballesteros in the first half.
 
Gavin Fischer sent a long volley at Ott with less than four minutes to play, while Kamal Ibrahim nearly set up Ballesteros with a goal just before the break, laying up a loose ball for the first-year. But Ott was again there for the save.
 
In the second half, Ott made another save before Josh Carroll got Cortland on the scoreboard, beating the UR defense with a diving header from Gabe Garcia in the 61st minute to give Cortland a 1-0 lead.
 
10 minutes later, Owen Brant beat the Rochester defense down the middle for a score to make it 2-0, while Carroll found the back of the net again on another cross from Garcia, this time also assisted by Scott Schuyler, to give SUNY Cortland a 3-0 lead with less than 12 minutes to play.
 
Just past the 85-minute mark, Flavio Di Santo put the capper on SUNY Cortland's win with their fourth goal of the night, taking advantage of a defensive miscue off an assist from Jake Hutter.
 
On the offensive end for Rochester, late shots by Matt Pochtar and Johnny Makula sailed wide and were blocked, as the Red Dragons took home a 4-0 victory, topping the Yellowjackets in their season opener for the second-straight year.
 
Offensively, four different Yellowjackets tallied three shots, with Ballesteros and Carusone each putting a pair on goal.
 
For Cortland, Brant and Carroll each took two shots, with Carroll scoring both, while Brant put one-of-two into the back of the net.
 
In goal, Ziegler made a pair of saves for UR, while Ott made five for Cortland.
 
Rochester will look to bounce back when they hit the road on Sunday, Aug. 31 for a crosstown matchup at Nazareth at 12:00 p.m. in Pittsford, NY.