USL Game Report
Saturday, January 28, 2012
BRADENTON, Fla. – Goals from Stephen Millage and Sean Coleman gave Team Veloce their second win of the day as they took a 2-0 victory against Team Geometra at the USL PRO Combine presented by Umbro on Saturday afternoon.
Veloce opened on the front foot, and it had a scrambled chance cleared from inside the Geometra six-yard area within the first five minutes. Emmanuel Elomobor then had a chance from a low cross from the right, but he scuffed his near-post finish wide. Matt Aldred also had a shot from distance saved by Geometra goalkeeper Ryan Brooks-Newton.
In the 17th minute, though, Veloce’s pressure paid off as Millage was on hand to finish a near-post corner from the left to give his side the lead.
Geometra almost hit back immediately, a counter-attack giving Gibson Bardsley an opportunity to cut in from the left, and he lashed a shot off the underside of the crossbar but not over the goal line. Bardsley had scored twice in his side’s opening game of the day, and had another solid performance in their second contest.
Another Geometra player who played well throughout the day was center back Ben Elliott, and he made a necessary intervention in the 24th minute as he prevented a good scoring opportunity. Veloce’s Elomonor then went for a spectacular finish, but his well-struck bicycle kick went high and wide. Geometra had a chance to tie the game just before the break as Justin Hay broke forward from midfield, but Jerson Barancida-Hamilton shot over after Hay offered an opportunity.
Geometra began the second half sharply, applying a good spell of pressure that resulted in a pair of corner kicks. But Veloce got their second in the 50th minute as Timoyuki Kinoshita burst forwards and played in Coleman on the right side of the penalty area. After muscling past a defender, Coleman rounded the advancing goalkeeper and finished well from a tight angle.
Coleman showed a nice piece of inventiveness in the 63rd minute as well, attempting an audacious chip from the edge of the penalty area that floated just over the crossbar. Geometra pushed to get on the board following that, Veloce goalkeeper Joe Marino saving well from Charlie Romero with 12 minuted to go and McNamara clearing Ernesto Marquez’s shot off the line.
Marino earned his clean sheet, though, as Veloce completed the victory with a composed final 10 minutes.