Rochester plays the Tropics on Saturday in the Sunshine State.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Lancers will make the first of two trips to Florida this weekend as they visit the first-place Florida Tropics in a Major Arena Soccer League game on Saturday.
The contest is set for the RP Funding Center at 5 p.m. and can be watched at MASL.TV.
In the teams’ first encounter of the season, the Lancers dropped a 17-4 home decision to the Tropics (13-1) on Jan. 3. Former Lancer Joey Tavernese led the way with four goals and one assist. Ricardo Carvalho contributed a hat-trick and two assists and Zach Reget, Victor Parreiras and Matt Clare added two goals apiece. Former Rochester Rhino and Lancer Antonio Manfut finished with a goal and four assists.
For Rochester, Tim Crawford and Daniel Reger tallied their first goals of the season and Alex Harling and Anthony Rozzano added scores.
The Lancers are coming off an 11-3 road defeat at Utica City FC last Sunday. Bo Jelovac scored three goals and assisted on a fourth to lead Utica to its third successive victory. Diego Mayanga, Rafa Godoi, and David Wright recorded goals for Rochester (0-15).
Rozzano leads the Lancers with six goals and five assists for 11 points and has a league-high 30 penalty minutes. Jeremy Ortiz has scored seven goals, while Michael Cunningham has collected six. Rookie midfielder Matt D’Amico has a team-high 7 assists.
Carvalho tops the Tropics in assists (18) and points (33) and is tied for the team lead with Parreiras at 15 goals apiece. Reget and Clare have added 13 goals apiece. Tavernese has recorded eight goals and six assists, while Manfut has 7 goals and 7 assists. Former Lancers defender JP Reyes and one-time Rochester Rhinos defender Drew Ruggles are also on Florida.
In their final game of the regular season, the Lancers return to the Sunshine State as they will visit the Orlando Seawolves on Sunday, March 22.
The Lancers return home for back-to-back matches at the Dome Arena in Henrietta, when they host Utica City on Friday, Feb. 21 and the Baltimore Blast on Saturday, Feb. 22. Both matches start at 7 pm. They will complete a busy weekend in Utica on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2 pm.