UWS REWIND: Surf’s up and so are the Lady Lancers

The New York Surf and Rochester Lady Lancers enjoyed memorable weekends in the United Women’s Soccer East.

The Surf recorded a 6-0 victory over the Worcester Smiles and the Lady Lancers remained in first place with a win.

A quick look at the weekend:

BRONX, NY – In what was a must-win game for their postseason hopes, the New York Surf delivered a dominant performance on Saturday afternoon by defeating the Worcester Smiles 6-0. It took five minutes for the hosts to jump in front as Week V UWS Team of the Week member Amy Marron netted the opening goal. The Surf hit the back of the net twice more during the first half, getting a 15^th minute tally from Furtuna Velaj and a goal on the stroke of halftime from Emma Anderson. Velaj latched onto Amaris Hemmings’ service in the 58^thminute for the Surf’s fourth goal and rounded off her hat trick in stoppage time, giving the former Quinnipiac University product five goals now on the season. In addition to assisting on Velaj’s second goal, Hemmings also got in on the goal-scoring action as she put one home in the 87^th minute for herself. It was a quiet day for Colleen Hickey in goal as she went the distance without being tested, picking up her first solo clean sheet of 2018. The three points also bumped the Surf from eight place in the East to fifth and now only trail second place New England by three points.

BUFFALO, NY – New Jersey Copa FC started off their weekend road trip to the Western New York region in fine form by picking up a 4-2 victory over the Flash. The hosts have made it a habit of getting out to quick starts in the 2018 season and Saturday was no different. Carissima Cutrona netted her fourth goal of the season as she finished off Maddie Pezzino’s service in the 14^th minute. The visitors leveled the proceedings in the 23^rd minute as Northeastern University product Katarina Nilsson latched onto Jackie Bruno’s through ball and ripped one by the Flash’s goalkeeper Megan Tock. NJCFC made it 2-1 just four minutes later with Camille Bowen picking up her first goal of the campaign and the visitors carried the lead into halftime. As quick as the Flash came out in the first half, they were even quicker coming out of the gate in the second half as they tied things up in the 49^th minute with a Charlotte Williams goal. But the visitors tightened up their shape defensively and struck the winner in the 78^th minute, as Jeanine Nunez coolly buried a penalty kick. Nilsson rounded off the scoring in the 88^th minute with a brilliant solo goal, securing the three points for the visitors. Andrea Leitner earned the win in goal for NJCFC after stopping eight shots, with Tock saving six for the Flash.

MILLERSVILLE,  Pa. – Second halves of games have been a tough spot for the New England Mutiny all season long as they’ve surrendered multiple leads late on this season. But in their trek down to the Keystone state this weekend, they were able to come away with three points after mounting a second-half comeback. After a scoreless first 45 minutes, Inferno Rush’s Tesa McKibben was afforded a chance in front of goal moments into the second half and the veteran striker did not miss, giving her team a one-goal advantage in the 46^th minute. The visiting Mutiny made a couple changes inside the final 20 minutes of the contest and one of those changes, Kelly Halligan, nearly found pay dirt in the 70^th minute, only to see her effort for an equalizing goal denied by the crossbar. But the Mutiny leveled things in the 80^th minute as Kate Howarth’s cross was flicked home beautifully by Yo Tachibana. Three minutes later, it was Howarth finding the back of the net as she ran onto Brittany Champagne’s long ball and finished it off for her fifth goal of the season, while extending her goal-scoring streak to three games. It was a massive result for the Mutiny as the win puts them back into second place with 11 points with four matches to go.

FARMINGTON, Conn.  – It was a tale of two halves at the Farmington Sports Arena on Saturday night. The host Fusion struck for an early lead as Chanel Johnson netted her second goal of the season in the 10^th minute. Tori Sousa, who has been so lethal in front of net this season, turned into the key facilitator as she assisted on Johnson’s goal and then set up a chance in the 42^nd minute for Jewel Robinson, with the former Central Connecticut State product finishing off her first goal of the season. But whatever Long Island head coach Karim Diallo said at the interval got through to his team as the visitors erased the deficit in the second half to leave the Nutmeg State with a point. Three-time All-MAAC honoree Madison Vazquez came on as a second half substitute and the former Siena Saint halved the deficit in the 61^stminute. Eight minutes later, she set up Kayla Saager for the equalizing goal to cap off the comeback. Kelsey Daugherty made nine stops in goal for the Rough Riders, including making several key saves after going down two goals to keep her team in the game.

ROCHESTER, NY – It was a sweltering Sunday afternoon at the Marina Auto Stadium but despite the warm temperatures, a lot was on the line for both Rochester and New Jersey. The visitors picked up three points the night before and had a chance to jump into the top-four in the East conference while a result for Rochester would keep them at the top of the table. After the teams spent the majority of the first half feeling out the tempo of the match, the Lady Lancers struck twice in the final five minutes of the stanza to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room. Jada Sargeant did well to seek out Taylor Wingerden’s cross at the back post and nodded home the opener in the 41^st minute. And then in first half stoppage time, league leading goal scorer Brooke Barbuto snapped up a lazy pass in the NJCFC back line and beat her defender in the 1v1 battle before slotting home her seventh goal of the season. Despite the furious attempts of NJCFC to cut into the two-goal deficit, they could only net one of the two goals they needed to reverse the score line as Tori Baliatico beat Lady Lancer goalkeeper Catie Broderick from distance in the 90^th minute. But Rochester hung on to see out the result and maintained their spot at the top of the East Conference table, currently sitting on 14 points, three points ahead of second place New England.