Super-20 League Game Report
Saturday, July 19, 2014
BRADENTON, Fla. – Tampa Bay United claimed a berth in the Super-20 League Finals Championship Game with a 1-0 victory against Triangle FC on Saturday morning at IMG Academy. Blake Wilson scored the only goal as Tampa Bay took its third win out of three to finish atop the National Division.
United needed only a draw to advance to Sunday’s final, while Triangle needed a win to overtake Tampa Bay for first. Both teams were patient to open the contest, but Tampa Bay had the first two good chances, both saved by Triangle’s Max Swartz. Triangle’s first good opportunity came in the 15th minute as Yosef Teffara got a cross by Philip Seamster, but shot wide of the left post.
Tampa Bay took control soon after, and began to press strongly just before the half-hour mark. Eric Mubang had a header go just wide in the 25th minute after a good back-post cross from the left from Joseph Metzger, and two minutes later Wilson had a header go off the ground and loop over the crossbar off a corner.
Wilson would make no mistake in the 34th minute, however, as he skied high above his marker on a free kick and sent home a powerful header just under the crossbar from 10 yards out.
Triangle almost responded immediately as James Compton hit the post with a good shot from 20 yards out in the 38th minute. Tampa Bay held onto its advantage to the break, and thought it had added a second three minutes into the second half when Brett Durrance found the back of the net, only for the assistant referee’s flag to be up for offside.
United remained solid defensively as Triangle tried to push forward for an equalizer, and had chances to add to its lead on the counter-attack. Michael Spezza made a good turn and break in the 67th minute, only for Swartz to parry away his shot from 20 yards, and other chances just went begging as Tampa Bay found more and more space.
Triangle remained dangerous, though, and again almost equalized in the 73rd minute when Craig Gage found space for a header in the penalty area, only for the effort to come back off the right post and be cleared to safety. Eric O’Brien had a pair of chances in the final five minutes, but United goalkeeper Brian Hoxi saved the first after a good piece of build-up play, and the second from a free kick went wide.
Tampa Bay held on to claim victory, however, as it salted away the remaining minutes to earn a chance to claim the first Super-20 League championship in club history.
TORONTO LYNX JRS. 3, IRONBOUND SC 1: The Toronto Lynx Juniors defeated Ironbound SC thanks to a second-half comeback.
Ironbound took control of the first half with direct ball movement and tireless running from forward Michael Olla. In the fifth minute Olla managed to break into space at the top of the box, but his shot glanced off the post and out of play.
After a number of other Ironbound chances, Olla finally made the breakthrough in the 45th minute. Ironbound midfielder Lucas Terci hit a deep through ball to Olla, who sped past both Toronto defenders and the goalkeeper before passing it into the back of the net.
Toronto came out of the break firing on all cylinders and was rewarded for its efforts in the 52nd minute, when Jordan Roberts intercepted a back pass and rounded the keeper to tie the score.
The Lynx Juniors continued to press and look for the winner, and 10 minutes later they had it. Toronto defender Matthew Mashkoor found a pocket of space deep in Ironbound territory and managed to pick out forward Anthony Novak to make it 2-1.
Ironbound was forced to commit numbers forward in an effort to tie the game, but in the 87th minute a clumsy challenge led to a Lynx Juniors penalty kick.
Ryan Baird, Ironbound's goalkeeper, did well to stop the initial effort, but Toronto's Hitesh Joshi whipped in a cross on the following play and Toronto substitute Blake Jonas made it into an easy finish.
Toronto will look to continue its winning ways against Beachside SC of CT tomorrow at 1:15 p.m., while Ironbound will try to bounce back against IMG at 9 a.m.
JUNIOR LONE STAR 2, CHICAGO FIRE 2: Junior Lone Star erased a two-goal deficit in the second-half to earn a draw with the Chicago Fire.
The Fire jumped to an early lead just seven minutes in when Jeff Farina sent a ball to Roderick Epps, who in a one-on-one situation slotted the ball past Luc-Annaud Toussaint.
Chicago continued to press early in the game and again found the back of the net in the ninth minute on a ball chipped over the keeper by Ryan Sierakowski.
Despite the early blows and having yet to score in its first two matches, Junior Lone Star was not discouraged, quickly controlling possession and determining the tempo of the game. Foray Thoronka put Junior Lone Star on the board with his 47th-minute strike after receiving a long ball from Kenneth Lassiter.
Two minutes later, Terry Kemokai played a ball out wide to Vlandy Slueue, who calmly finished with his right after beating out a defender.
A draw was not a satisfactory result for Junior Lone Star, as the attack continued to create quality chances. Slueue again put himself in a good position after cutting a ball in from the left, but his shot was not enough to beat keeper Adrian Remeniuk.
"I’m proud of the way the guys fought today, “Junior Lone Star Head Coach Thomas George said. “We put ourselves in a good position in the second half, scoring two quick goals, but I guess we just lost our legs and weren’t able to find a winner.”
AMERICAN DIVISION
PARSIPPANY SC 1, IMG ACADEMY 1: Parsippany held on to claim a draw against IMG Academy in its final group game, which proved enough to earn the right to face Tampa Bay United in the Super-20 League Finals Championship Game as it finished ahead of the Grand Rapids Crew on goal difference in the American Division.
Parsippany had a chance to take the lead in the 15th minute when a good cross found Zach Reed, but his effort was blocked and cleared. IMG then began to press forward well, and both Raymundo Marquez and Brendan O’Connor had chances to score, only to miss the target.
Raul Gonzalez was the next to have a good chance for IMG in the 31st minute as he broke into the left side of the penalty area, but his chipped finish slid wide of the right post, and the game went to the break scoreless.
Parsippany broke the deadlock two minutes into the second half as a free kick by Andrew Ruane was flicked home by Matthew Villano, but IMG rebounded well as Marquez’s header in the 55th minute was well saved by Brady O’Connor. IMG again went close eight minutes later through Connor Sparrow, only for his shot to be cleared off the line, but it was rewarded for its pressure in the 65th minute as O’Connor got his hand to a fierce shot by Alex Zidani, but couldn’t keep it out of the net.
IMG, which needed victory in order to keep its hopes of reaching the final alive, continued to press forward in search of a winner, but ended up reduced to nine men as first Brendan O’Connor was sent off following an off-the-ball incident, and then Juan Navarette was dismissed for his second yellow card. Parsippany wasn't able to take advantage of its numerical advantage, and had to wait out Grand Rapids’ final group game, but eventually took its place in Sunday’s final.
GRAND RAPIDS CREW 4, DEPORTIVO CORAS USA 2: The Grand Rapids Crew got off to a flying start, but were unable to achieve the five-goal victory they needed to jump past Parsippany SC as they defeated Deportivo Coras in the final group game in the American Division.
The Crew scored three goals in the opening 10 minutes. Andrew Lewis opened the scoring in the fourth minute before Matt Wilson added two goals in five minutes, both from close range, to put them in with a strong chance of advancing.
After its initial flurry, however, Grand Rapids’ pace slowed, and Coras was able to get back into the game. Deportivo pulled a goal back a minute before the halftime break as Matt Aldama put home a good finish from the right side of the penalty area to put a dent in the Crew’s hopes with 45 minutes to go.
Grand Rapids restored its three-goal lead 10 minutes into the second half on an outstanding solo effort by Kosti Moni, who controlled a long pass upfield with his chest and raced in on goal before he fired a low finish into the left corner of the net. The Crew continued to push for the two additional goals they needed, but spurned a number of good opportunities from inside the penalty area, and then with 17 minutes to go Aaron Gonzalez made the road harder as he scored directly from a corner kick from the left as Coras got a second.
The game continued to get stretched as it entered the final 10 minutes as the Crew continued to create, and fail to take, chances. Their hopes of reaching the final would come to an end as the final whistle blew, to leave Parsippany on top of the American Division.
BEACHSIDE SC OF CT 4, BROWNSVILLE BRAVOS ACADEMY 1: Beachside SC kept its composure despite an early deficit, comfortably beating Brownsville Bravos Academy FC.
Damian Torres gave Brownsville an early lead, poking in a ball on the goal line after a saved shot from Carlos Acevedo in the third minute.
Beachside quickly reorganized and created chance after chance before equalizing in the 20th minute when a Patrick Figgie cross found Francisco Agrest for the goal.
Nicholas Zuniga gave Beachside the lead in the 45th, with Joey Devivo extending the lead to two in the 47th minute with Figgie collecting his second assist on the day.
Any hope of a comeback was crushed for Brownsville when Zuniga again found the back of the net, this time on a strike from 25 yards out, with Christian Barral picking up the assist.
“The guys showed resiliency,” Beachside Head Coach Pete Doneit said. “They came back and had the wealth of possession, our ball movement was great, we tired out the other team and did a good job at finishing out chances.”