Prescott, Anandarajah Score in UR’s Win at Nazareth
PITTSFORD, NY – The University of Rochester men’s soccer team earned a hard-fought road victory, defeating host Nazareth University 2-1 on Wednesday evening at Golden Flyer Stadium.
UR (6-1-3) got goals from Ashton Prescott in the 24th minute and Jeremiah Anandarajah in the 51st minute in the victory, with goalkeeper Santino Lupica-Tondo picking up the win in goal, making five saves.
Nazareth drops just its second decision in ten games this season, moving to 7-2-1 on the year. The Golden Flyers goal came from Jake Pawlika on a penalty kick in the 52nd minute.
The stats finished fairly even between the squads, with Rochester outshooting Nazareth 21-16, with an 8-6 edge in shots on frame. The Yellowjackets also held a slim advantage in corners, taking five to Nazareth’s three in the contest.
After Nazareth got the opening shot on goal off in the contest, testing Lupica-Tondo in the ninth minute, Rochester flipped the switch and took six of the next seven shots in the game.
At the 15-minute mark, UR’s Nick Swanger took a hard shot after a cross from Kol Bassuk, but the shot was blocked away by the Golden Flyer defense.
Several minutes later, EliJose Araujo took a left footed chance following a lead pass up from Swanger, but Patrick Larkin was able to make the save for Nazareth. Less than 30 seconds after the Araujo chance, Santi Ponce Ocampo outran the defense along the left side of the box and got inside the crease, but he ran out of space to maneuver and saw his shot stopped by Larkin.
Prescott opened the scoring for the Yellowjackets at 23:38 when he intercepted a Nazareth clearance, sprinted by the Golden Flyer defense and took a shot that found the twine in the low left corner.
The Yellowjackets kept up the pressure late in the opening half. Bassuk had a header off a corner kick sail just high of the net in the 43rd minute and just second before the horn sounded at intermission, Will Fallona took a one-timer volley shot off a long throw in that was saved.
Both teams got off to solid starts in the second half. Nazareth earned a quick corner kick and took three shots in the first five minutes, but none were on target in the Golden Flyers attempt to equalize.
UR boosted the lead at 50:13 when after a yellow card awarded a free kick, Prescott sent a beautiful right-to-left curling service into the box where a charging Anandarajah spiked a header into the goal for a 2-0 lead.
Less than a minute passed and Nazareth got the goal right back when Pawlika converted his penalty kick following a Yellowjacket foul inside the box. The score was Pawlika’s team-leading ninth tally of the season.
Five minutes after the first Nazareth goal, the Golden Flyers nearly got another one, but Noah Malta’s header from in close was stopped by a diving Lupica-Tondo.
The Yellowjackets had a golden opportunity to expand the lead in the 69th minute, getting a free kick less than a yard outside the box. Prescott stepped up to the ball and fired a hard shot that sailed high of the cage, keeping the score at 2-1.
Neither team threatened the rest of the way, with visiting Rochester holding on for the one-goal win, its third of the 2023 campaign, all of which were 2-1 scores.
The Yellowjackets next match is set for Saturday at Carnegie Mellon University at 1:30 pm.