Antigua Barracuda 1 Orlando City 3
St. George Parish, Antigua – Orlando City avenged their only home loss of the season with a dominating 3-1 road victory over American Division rivals Antigua Barracuda FC Friday night in St. George Parish, Antigua. The win moves the Lions to 9-2-4 on the season, keeping City at the top of the league.
Orlando City began the match quickly and in dominating fashion. After a wide shot in the opening 30 seconds, City pressed hard in the attack. Erik Ustruck hit the crossbar in 5th minute for the first real scoring chance of the night for the Lions, but the rebound was corralled by the Antigua keeper. City continued to press in attack, completely controlling the flow of the game.
Orlando’s efforts were rewarded in the 17th minute. Lewis Neal took a short corner, and then placed a secondary cross into the mixer. Several headers kept the ball alive in the box until 6’3” Rob Valentino rose above the crowd to finally knock the ball into the net. Valentino also scored the game winner on Tuesday night in US Open Cup play in Charleston. Knowing one goal would not be enough, the Lions pushed on and just five minutes later, City doubled their lead. Kevin Molino placed a cross low and across the goal, to find Max Griffin for his league-leading ninth goal of the season.
Antigua struck back quickly, when Orlando Mitchum broke away on a loose ball and put it past Gallardo. City regained control of the match, allowing the game to settle 2-1 at the halfway mark. Orlando came out blazing in the second half, with attack after attack. The Barracudas could not maintain possession, due in part to the strong play of Lawrence Olum and Eric Ustruck in the central midfield.
The Lions closed the match out in the 61st minute on corner kick. Lewis Neal expertly placed the ball at the back post, finding Luke Boden for his first goal of the season. Neal’s service had such a curve that it nearly went in the net untouched. The Lions closed out the game by maintaining possession as they had all game.
In the closing minutes, Orlando’s Demar Stewart was shown red for dissent. He will miss the next match as a result and after weathering a late surge of kitchen sink attacks by the Barracudas, the Lions emerged with a 3-1 victory. Next up for the Lions the second game of the two match set with Antigua. Kickoff is set for 5:00 pm at Sticky Wicket Stadium. The match will be broadcast on USLLive.com, the official online video channel of USL PRO.
For more information, visit www.orlandocitysoccer.com.
After the finishing business in Antigua, the Lions will travel to Frisco, Texas, to face Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. The match will be broadcast on FCDallas.com.
Scoring Summary:
17th Minute – Orlando: Rob Valentino
22nd Minute – Orlando: Max Griffin (Kevin Molino)
25th Minute – Antigua: Orlando Mitchum
61st Minute – Orlando: Luke Boden (Lewis Neal)
Orlando City Line-up GK: Miguel Gallardo D: Mechack Jerome, Demar Stewart, Rob Valentino, Jack Traynor M: Kevin Molino (59’ – Charlie Campbell), Lawerence Olum, Erik Ustruck, Luke Boden (89’ – Justin Fojo) F: Lewis Neal (71’ – Devorn Jorsling (89’ – Kieron Bernard), Max Griffin (85’ – Dennis Chin)
