Syracuse Silver Knights News Release -- www.syracusesilverknights.com
Friday, November 4,
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A late goal in the fourth quarter by defender Jeff Hughes gave the Syracuse Silver Knights a thrilling 16-15 victory against the Rochester Lancers in front of an enthusiastic and booming crowd of 3,670 at the Oncenter on Friday night.
The win was the Silver Knights’ first in the MISL as they rallied from a three-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to take victory, former MISL Best XI selection Diego Serna also scoring his first goal for the club to begin the rally.
The Silver Knights made an explosive start to the game, Andriy Budnyy scoring just 16 seconds into the game for the first goal in club history. Budnyy added a second goal, while Ryan Hall and Slavisa Ubiparipovic also found the back of the net to give Syracuse an 8-2 lead after the first quarter.
The Lancers hit back in the second period, though, as Ljubomir Kocic scored a hat trick that was capped by a 3-point goal with just over two minutes to play before the half to give Rochester a 9-8 halftime lead.
Both sides exchanged the lead back-and-forth in the third period, Syracuse taking the lead twice on goals by Alex Megson and Diego Barrera only for the Lancers to hit back both times through Doug Miller and Gary Boughton. Mauricio Salles then added a third goal for the Lancers with 10 seconds to play in the third period, giving them a 15-12 lead going to the final 15 minutes.
But the Silver Knights opened the fourth quarter strongly and were rewarded 2 minutes, 45 seconds in as Serna fired home from a free kick to reduce the deficit to one. While the Lancers were able to withstand most of the Silver Knights’ pressure, with less than a minute to go, and Syracuse using an extra attacker, an angled ball found Hughes on the left side, allowing him to fire home and give the Silver Knights a 16-15 lead they would hold for the final 39 seconds.
The Syracuse Silver Knights next game will be played next Friday night as they travel to face the Norfolk SharX at 7 p.m. at the Norfolk Scope Arena. The Silver Knights next home game sees them host the Lancers on Wednesday, November 23 at 7 p.m.