By Cosmos News Service

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (May 9, 2015) – New York Cosmos B continued their promising start to the season with a convincing 4-0 win over Seacoast United Mariners at Mitchel Field on Saturday.

An added bonus was 75 minutes of game time for first team defender Hunter Freeman on his road to recovery, and he chipped in with two of the goals.

“It's huge for Hunter,” said head coach Alecko Eskandarian. “He has had a very, very frustrating 2015, dealing with this injury. All of us feel so bad for him because he is doing all of the little things to put himself in a position to play.

“To see him finally get on the field and play is a great sight for everyone in our club. That's the great thing about Cosmos B, being a resource for a guy like Hunter Freeman to use and gauge where he's at, to get his match fitness up a little bit, and prepare to get back with the first team.”

It was Ruben Bover who got Cosmos B off and running as early as the third minute, with a good finish from a Kaan Ilgin through ball.

Dane Murphy had two chances in quick succession in the 18^th minute. First his header was beaten away by goalkeeper William Pike, then from the resulting corner he had another shot saved. The Cosmos were not to be denied a minute later though, as Freeman turned in Cristhian Hernandez's right-wing corner at the near post.

The Mariners' first shot of the game came on the half-hour mark, when Luis Pereira's effort was deflected out for a corner that the Cosmos cleared. Bover's shot suffered a similar fate at the other end on 38 minutes.

Freeman made it 3-0 just two minutes later, with a spectacular low drive from 35 yards that arrowed into the bottom corner.

Nine minutes into the second half, Hernandez tracked back well to clear a dangerous Mariners attack and deny them a path back into the game. Any remaining hope the visitors might have had was firmly extinguished in the 70^th minute, when Bover's strike took a deflection for an own goal.

The Cosmos made four changes, and one of those substitutes, James Caicedo, came closest to adding to the scoreline in the 88^th minute. He went on a jinking run into the box but Pike blocked.

This victory built on the opening day 3-2 success over Brooklyn Italians at MCU Park, and Eskandarian saw plenty of improvement, with room for more.

“I'm very pleased but there's still a lot of work to do,” he said. “All our guys know they could still be better. There's still a lot of areas that we can improve on but, with that said, to get two results while improving is a testament to the guys' character.

“This game was a much more professional performance out of the team in terms of dominating possession, and keeping a clean sheet was a focus for us in training during the week. We worked on shoring things up at the back, including on set pieces. I'm very proud of the guys for stepping up and doing their job today.”

Next up is the return fixture against the same opponents at the University of Southern Maine next Saturday, May 16 at 6 p.m. ET. It will be the first road game for the new team.

“We're always confident but it's not going to be easy,” Eskandarian added. “It's really difficult to play the same team back-to-back, especially with us winning here. I'm sure they're going to be motivated and try some different things to try to counter us.

“I'm expecting a different team with a different game plan and I think it'll be difficult but we'll make sure our guys are up for it.”

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