By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Seven days between games didn’t slow the McQuaid Jesuit Knights.
Justin LaFountain and Dan Rooney scored a goal apiece and combined on another as McQuaid defeated the Bishop Kearney Kings, 3-1 in non-league action Saturday night.
LaFountain intercepted a Kearney clearing attempt and fed Rooney who one-timed a pass to Dan Malloy to start the scoring in the 28th minute.
“Dylan (teammate Duffy) took the ball to the end line and played one in,” Rooney explained. “It got kicked out. Justin came in with a nice ball. I had a touch and shielded the defender off. Dan was right there.”
Rooney added to the advantage 10 minutes later when teammate Adriano Margiotta threaded a pass through the Kearney backline. Rooney beat Kearney goalkeeper David Tierney on the short side.
“I started to make a run into the 18 and called for it,” Rooney explained. “Adriano put it right through. He always has the good assists. He put it right through and makes finishes easy for me.”
The win was the third straight for McQuaid which shut out Brighton on their home turf field a week ago. Saturday night, the Knights outlasted the Kings on Kearney’s rain-soaked pitch.
“Boys dug hard,” first-year coach Nino Pilato said. “Not the most ideal conditions to be playing coming from turf to muddy grass. No excuses. They did what they had to do.”
“It was something we haven’t really had since pre-season,” Rooney said of the seven days between games. “We haven’t really gotten any time off. We took Monday off. Then we got back at it Tuesday. It was just a much needed break, honestly.”
LaFountain made it a 3-0 game in the 75th minute.
“I was just trying to finish the game,” the junior midfielder said. “I missed a couple of opportunities in the first half, so I was happy to put it away.”
Dylan Duffy picked up an assist on the play.
LaFountain and Margiotta were part of McQuaid midfield effort which held Kearney, and in particular leading scorer Deu Awuok, in check for 79 minutes.
“We talked about it before the game kinda having our defense back a little bit and not allowing him to run through,” Pilato said of the defensive effort. “Our two center middies did a nice job of containing him.”
McQuaid goalkeeper Tommy Gallina made five saves in the win.
Max Maurer got Kearney on the board in the final minute with a header off Jordan Freed‘s corner kick.
“It was nice to see them be resilient,” Kearney coach Steve Strauss said of his team’s effort. “We had some guys who haven’t played a ton, so it’s great for them to be on the field for a goal like that. That was cool.”
Despite playing with an injury, Tierney made three saves in the first half including a stop of Malloy on a breakaway in the opening moments.
“David is unbelievable,” Strauss stated. “He’s playing with a broken finger. He’s still fighting for the team. He made a couple brilliant saves tonight that were top notch. It could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t been at the top of his game like he was tonight.”
McQuaid improved to 10-2 with the win. The Knights play at Aquinas Tuesday night. A 7 p.m. kickoff is scheduled.
The loss was the third straight for Kearney which dropped a pair of one-goal games in the previous setbacks. The Kings are 5-6-1. The Kings play World of Inquiry Monday. A 4 p.m. start time is scheduled at Franklin High School.
Leave a Reply