Med City FC Strikes Early on the Way to Victory over LC Aris FC

By Med City FC

Med City FC wanted to start out quickly against LC Aris FC in the meeting between the two teams on Wednesday night in Rochester, and they did exactly that. Just 33 seconds into the match, after heavy defensive pressure forced a turnover deep in LC Aris FC territory, midfielder Alan Schembri Wismayer opened the scoring from a beautiful cross by Finlay Bloodworth. It was the fastest goal in Med City FC history and set the Mayhem up on the way to victory.

Just three minutes later, Man of the Match Schembri Wismayer turned provider, setting up Francisco Neto, who scored his second conference goal in two conference games. At that point, the Mayhem had scored two goals on two shots in four minutes and looked to be cruising to a win. Credit to LC Aris FC, they didn’t fold despite the two early goals and it wasn’t until the 19th minute that Med City FC was able to add a third goal. That came courtesy of Estiven Garcia, off a wonderful volleyed pass from Niklas Roessler. Med City FC continued to dominate the first half and went into halftime with a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal and a 17-0 advantage in shots. The Mayhem also enjoyed 57% of the possession in the half.

With a game in Fargo-Moorhead on Saturday, Med City FC started planning ahead and pulled a couple starters to start the second half. And while they continued their dominance, they weren’t able to add to their early goal tally. As the half continued, the Mayhem made more substitutions, giving 17 players minutes in the game. And it was LC Aris FC who would get a final consolation score, with LC Aris FC substitute Christian Milner converting on a scramble in the Med City FC box in the 90th minute to cut the score to 3-1 and ruin the Med City FC shutout.

“I was really pleased with the way we implemented a lot of the tactics we’ve been working on in practice,” said Med City FC head coach Neil Cassidy. “We’ll continue to refine what we’re doing and hope that we can keep improving with each practice.”

Med City FC will look to follow up their strong performance on Saturday night, when they travel to Fargo-Moorhead to play Dakota Fusion FC. They’ll then face another long trip to Duluth to take on Duluth FC next Wednesday.

Photo Credit: Fagan Studios/Med City FC