ROCHESTER, NY-Led by tournament MVP Jessica Smith who scored two goals, the University of Rochester women's soccer team captured the title of the season opening Flower City Soccer Tournament on Sunday afternoon.
The Yellowjackets (2-0-0) topped Union College 3-2 behind goals from Smith and Gabriella Goddette. Union (1-1-0) got tallies from Whitney Bickford and Emily Hamilton to close within one goal late in the game.
The senior Smith got the scoring started in the 24th minute when she beat her defender 1-on-1 and slipped a shot just inside the left post for a 1-0 Rochester lead.
Union nearly got the equalizer three minutes later when the Dutchwomen's Breana Derella fired a long shot which was stopped by Rochester keeper Allison Bernstein who made a terrific diving save. Union also had two other good scoring chances in the first half late after a long throw in and corner kick went into the box, only to have them swatted away by the UR defense.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the home Yellowjackets until 58:18 when Union's Bickford headed in a score, directly off a corner kick from Drella, tying the score at 1-1. Rochester's Bernstein then had to make another diving save with 21:50 remaining in the game, keeping the score tied, deflecting a shot from Union's Kelsey Fish over the goal.
UR would then grab the lead back when the sophomore Goddette got a great through ball from freshman Lee Stagg and then beat Dutchwomen keeper Allison Brustowicz for a 2-1 lead. Smith then scored her second of the day six minutes later, giving UR a comfortable two goal cushion, with a hard shot from 25 yards out on the left wing.
Union would respond quickly though, with Brustowicz cutting the deficit to just one after scoring on an 18 yard lob shot just over Bernstein's reach.
Rochester had another golden opportunity to increase the lead back to two, but Stagg was stopped on a breakaway by Allison Brustowicz with just under nine minutes remaining.
Brustowicz picked up the loss but made five saves on the day. Bernstein moves to 2-0 on the year after making three saves in the UR net.
Smith took home MVP honors for Rochester with Stagg being named the tournament's best offensive player. Union's Rachel Cohen was named the Flower City top defensive player.
