UTICA CITY JOUSTS AGAINST LANCERS

Today’s Game: Utica City hosts the Rochester Lancers for the first time this season. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. 

Last Game: Andrew Coughlin made 15 saves and Ricardo Diegues chipped in with a goal and assist as Utica City FC outlasted the St. Louis Ambush 4-3 on Friday night at the Adirondack Bank Center. Cristhian Segura, Nate Bourdeau, and Momo, also scored for Utica.

Head to Head: This is the second contest between Utica and Rochester this season. City won the first matchup 9-1 back on November 29 in Rochester. The two interstate rivals will square off two more times after today’s match. 

Scouting the Lancers: Rochester comes in with a record of 0-13 and sits in last place in the Eastern Division. They most recently fell to the Baltimore Blast 14-5 last night. Anthony Rozzano leads the offense with 11 points, followed by Michael Cunningham with 10 points. Brian Wilkin is the leading goalkeeper with a record of 0-9, a 10.45 goals-against average, and .580 save percentage. 

Home Cookin’: Utica City has played extremely well at home this season. City has won back-to-back games at home and is 5-1 overall on the blue turf so far. They have also outscored opponents 33-24 this season. Utica is 14-4 overall at the Adirondack Bank Center. 

Settling In: Momo seems to be finding a groove in his first season of arena soccer. Momo has picked up three points (2-1-3) in his last four games and four points (3-1-4) in his last five. He also has been credited with two game-winning goals. The midfielder has seven points (6-1-7) in 11 games this year.

Moi, Moi, Moi: Moises Gonzalez has been on a hot streak lately. Gonzalez has nine points (5-4-9) in his last six games, with three of those games being multi-point games. The forward has 16 points (9-7-16) in 11 games.

Release the Headband: Tim Goldman is expected to make his home debut Sunday afternoon. He attended Ithaca College from 2011-13, where he appeared in 28 career games, recording seven goals and three assists. earning Honorable Mention All-Empire 8 as a freshman and First Team All-Empire 8 as a sophomore. He transferred to NYU in 2014, recording two goals and three assists in 13 games.

Next Game: Utica City is back in action this coming Thursday, February 13 on the road against the Mesquite Outlaws. Kickoff is at 8:35 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed on MASL.tv.