The men’s soccer team captured the Flower City Men’s Soccer Classic on Monday with a 4-0 win over St. John Fisher College. Junior Nate Micklos carried the Yellowjackets to victory over St. John Fisher. The Yellowjackets claimed the Flower City Men’s Soccer Classic Championship with two impressive victories, outscoring their opponents by a total of six goals in two games.
Micklos, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, netted two goals, including a powerful shot off a Fisher defender at the 19:09 mark. He added another goal when he knocked in a 15-yarder off a pass from midfielder and Take Five Scholar Ben Cross.
After playing an excellent tournament, Micklos sounded very enthusiastic about the team’s performance.
“It’s really good to start off the year with three wins,” Miklos said. “It is always tough playing teams from the same region and it means a lot to win our own tournament.”
Rochester continued running all over the Cardinals as their offense lit up the scoreboard with two more goals. Freshman Matt Sulki found Micklos, who then nicely assisted junior Gary Stom for the Yellowjackets’ third goal.
Stom, known as a quick, agile forward, was also given recognition for his performance on the offensive end, as the tournament’s best offensive player. Stom seemed happy about the win, but was also smiling with gratefulness over the fan support.
“Winning a tournament at home is always nice, but when you win one in front of your home crowd, it just makes it that much sweeter,” Stom said. “The fan support so far this year has been excellent. All the guys on the team really appreciate the crowd support and we hope it continues.”
The Yellowjackets’ efficiency on offense continued for one more goal as freshman Bobby Milenovici put the last point on the board when senior Eric Jablonka set up Milenovici for the header in the closing minutes of the game.
Rochester defense made life tough for Fisher all afternoon. The Yellowjackets allowed just two shots on goal while getting 19 shots of their own. Freshman Jack Burgasser and senior Aaron Bernstein combined for the shutout.
The Yellowjackets will need to combine their offensive execution and tenacious defense with a pumped up crowd for two big home games this weekend. UR will square off against St. Lawrence University, which is ranked No. 5 in the nation in Division III soccer, at 7 p.m. on Friday at Fauver Stadium.
On Saturday, the Yellowjackets will take the field again at 3 p.m. to take on the Golden Knights of Clarkson University.
Rochester improves to 3-0 on the season, all against non-conference opponents.
Rovinsky can be reached at mrovinsky@campustimes.org.
