Last night, in the heat and humidity of Rochester Regional Stadium, Med City FC took on local club Rochester FC in a battle for city bragging rights and the first-ever Rochester City Cup. In a hard-fought, but not necessarily well-played, game it was the Mayhem who would come out on top, using a pair of goals in the game’s final 20 minutes to claim a 3-1 victory.
Rochester FC came out hungry in the game’s first 20 minutes and their effort was rewarded with a nice goal by Igor Aguiar on the counter-attack that gave them a 1-0 lead. The goal came against the run of play, with Med City FC having much of the ball but little to show for it. That all changed, however, in the 37th minute as Estiven Garcia, who had just come into the game a few minutes earlier, was fouled in the area to earn the Mayhem a penalty kick. Alan Schembri Wismayer stepped up to take the kick and fired it past the diving Rochester FC keeper for a 1-1 tie. That’s how the half would end.
In the second half, Med City FC turned up the pressure a bit more and again had control of the game. The Mayhem still couldn’t find that cutting edge in the final third, however. The game took a turn in Med City FC’s favor in the 71st minute, as the Rochester FC goal scorer Aguiar was shown a second yellow card and was sent off. Med City FC capitalized just a few minutes later as defender Nicholas Itopoulos sent a through ball to Jordan Lennon who made a nice run and finish to score and make it 2-1 for the Mayhem.
Med City FC would add a third in second half stoppage time, as Abel Gebrikiros did some fine one-on-one work down the left side to get to the end line, drive across and slot a pass to Garcia. His fine one-touch finish sealed a 3-1 victory for the Mayhem. With the win, Med City FC claimed the first-ever Rochester City Cup and remain undefeated on the season (6-0-3 in conference; 9-0-3 overall).