Super-20 Finals Round-Up
Saturday, July 23, 2011
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
BRANDON, Fla. – A late goal by Mick Giordano gave Triangle FC its second win of the tournament with a 1-0 victory against Revolution FC and a place in the semifinals of the USL Super-20 Finals on Saturday morning at the J.C. Handley Fields.
With time winding down, Triangle sent a long ball forward. A flicked header sent Giordano through on goal into the right channel, and he was clinical with his finish into the left corner of the net. It was one of the few chances Triangle was able to create throughout the game.
“Sometimes that’s just the way it works,” Triangle coach Zach Haines said. “We defended most of the game, the Revolution team was fantastic, they’re unbelievable, but we stayed in it, fought ‘til the very end and then found ourself on the counter and buried our chance.”
Revolution, which led Group C entering Saturday, had the better of the game, holding more possession and breaking up Triangle’s opportunities when it tried to counter-attack. But for all its possession Revolution wasn’t able to find a telling finish to take the lead.
Revolution’s best chance, in fact, may have been its last when a free kick came to Lucas Sweda about 15 yards from goal, but his low driven shot was cleared off the goal line and away to safety.
“That’s the way the game goes, you win some, you lose some,” Revolution coach Srdjan Djekanovic said. “I thought we played well today, we didn’t deserve to lose, but we got away with one in the first game, and that’s the way it goes. Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn’t.”
After dropping its opening game, Triangle scored late to take victory against both Reading United and Revolution. Now they will face the Columbus Crew Jrs. in the semifinals hoping their heroics can continue.
“The one thing I know about the team is that they have a great spirit and great fight,” Haines said. “Although we only get them for the summer these kids are a really right unit and really good friends and they work extremely hard for each other. This whole tournament, it means a great deal to them, so the one thing I can count on is their effort, and I think with the past two games and the way we’ve been able to stay in to the very end and manage to hang on at times and do what we need to do to win says a lot about their character.”
READING UNITED 2, TSF ACADEMY 0: Reading took victory in its final outing of the tournament as goals by Bradley Martyn and Bradley Vanino put paid to TSF Academy’s chances of reaching the semifinals. TSF could have reached the knockout round with victory after Triangle’s win in the day, TSF having beaten Triangle in their opening game, but Reading proved too much as they scored twice after halftime to take victory.
GROUP B
COLUMBUS CREW JRS. 1, FASA 0: Matt Walker scored the only goal of the game in the second half as the Crew Jrs. rounded out a perfect run through pool play against FASA. Having already clinched the group, the Crew Jrs. rested a number of starters for this evening’s semifinal as they pursue a second consecutive Super-20 championship.
PRINCETON 2, WESTCHESTER FLAMES 2: Princeton and Westchester played to an up-and-down draw that saw Princeton play for most of the game down a man after Jonathan Louisignau was sent off early in the first half. Daniel Christiansen and Steve Neumann found the back of the net for Princeton, while Kevan Lewis and Abdul Umar answered for the Flames.