Rochester New York FC lost 3-2 against New York City FC II tonight, in their home opener. The first ever "Empire State Derby", started out with confusion for fans as the newly constructed home stands were deemed unsafe, and tickets had to be refunded. This greatly cut the crowd down in size at John L. DiMarco Field. It will be thrilling to see Rochester play a home game in all its glory, but maybe next game.
First Half:
Rochester struggled early in the first half allowing NYC FC II to attempt 7 shots in the first 17 minutes, however only two of those were on target. Rochester would strike first though in the 20th minute thanks to a penalty kick by Will Inalien, to make it 1-0 Rochester. After the goal, Rochester played significantly better, only allowing one shot for the rest of the half, unfortunately that shot turned out to be an easy goal for NYC FC II's Stephen Turnbull, as he tied it up from close range in the 32nd minute. The rest of the half was fairly quiet with only Gibryan Rayo having a chance to score, before being denied by the keeper.
End of the first half score, Rochester NY FC: 1, NYC FC II: 1
Second Half:
Rochester quickly fell behind in the second half with NYC FC II's Jonathan Jiménez kick being deflected and taking an odd hop into the goal, to make it 2-1 NYC FC II. Rochester would fight back for into this game after Pedro Dolabella setting up a break for Milan Vanacker who threaded it to Will Inalien. Inalien would cut back inside and hit just outside the box absolutely freezing the keeper to tie the game up! Inalien would come off a few minutes later due to injury, but Rochester earned another chance just after. With Vanacker setting up Raymond Drai with an open shot from inside the box, but Drai slipped and sent it high. It turned out to be Rochester's last real chance of the match, as NYC FC II pressed on getting three more shots on target in the last ten minutes. Caíque who started in place of Phillip Ejimadu in goal, saved the first two of those attempts, but couldn't save Jonathan Jiménez's effort who scored in the 3rd minute of added time, after a turnover in Rochester's own half. Rochester with only 6 minutes left of extra time to score garnered one shot from Dolabella that never was even close, and a good effort by Preston Popp to get past the defense, but resulted in a turnover.
Verdict:
While Rochester may have lost, there are a lot of positives from this game. First soccer in Rochester is back! Secondly, they were able to create a fair bit of chances, and could have had one or two more goals. Thirdly, Rochester was a bit unfortunate with Jiménez's first goal, that got deflected and bounced in front of Caíque. In fact according to Expected Goals (xG )stats, Rochester had 1.6 xG comapred to NYC FC II's 0.8. Going forward however, Rochester needs to take better care of the ball in its own half, as the pressure from NYC FC II led to many chances including Jiménez's game winner. Taking care of possession might also help Rochester's possession problem, as NYC FC II dominated possession today with 67.10% of the ball compared to Rochester's 32.90%.
North Star Ultras Player of the Match:
Will Inalien is North Star Ultras' Player of the Match! Rochester's #9 lead the way today scoring in both halves, including a stunning goal to put Rochester up 2-1. Inalien now has three goals on the season, all in his last two games! (2 in league, 1 in U.S. Open Cup)
Pictures courtesy of North Star Ultras
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