Wilmington Hammerheads News Release -- www.wilmingtonhammerheads.com
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Wilmington Hammerheads fell 2-0 to the Richmond Kickers in their final regular season home game at Legion Stadium on Wednesday night. The Hammerheads (13-7-3) remain in second place with 42 points in USL PRO’s American Division. The Kickers (12-7-3) earned three points with the victory and now have 39 points and remained third in the division.
Both teams struggled to find their form offensively in the opening minutes of the game. In the 17th minute, Richmond pressed into Wilmington’s half and lofted a ball into the top corner of the penalty box. A defensive miscue redirected the ball to the feet of Kickers midfielder Ryan Heins. Heins first timed a long shot from 25 yards out which sailed past Hammerheads goalkeeper Brock Duckworth to put Richmond up 1-0.
In the 60th minute, midfielder Manny Guzman took Wilmington’s first shot of the second half from the top of the 18-yard box, but it soared over the crossbar, leaving the deficit at 1-0. The Kickers attacked again in the 73rd minute as Heins cut a dangerous ball back from the goal line to the top of the six-yard box to forward Matthew Delicâte, who drilled a low shot to the far corner of the net to give his side a two-goal lead. The goal was Delicâte's 10th of the season.
The Hammerheads will wrap up their regular season on Saturday night when they travel to the Miami Valley South Stadium to take on the Dayton Dutch Lions at 7:30 p.m. The Kickers will head west for a pair of games against the Los Angeles Blues, the first coming on Friday night at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium for a 10:30 p.m. EDT kickoff.