Orlando City Hammer Antigua Barracuda in Record Win
In a frustrating week on and off the field, Orlando City Lions roared back with vengeance to destroy Antigua Barracuda 7-2. The fact that City were 7 goals to the good by the 54th minute showed how much of a massacre this game was and the scoreline really could have been double that if Orlando has taken all their chances.
It was a game that was eagerly awaited by City fans as Tuesday night’s fixture was frustratingly called off because of bad weather. That was bad enough but the week got worse for the club after the Florida Legislature ended its session without passing any funding plan that would assist the team’s Major League Soccer quest to build a new stadium.
All of this conspired to put Orlando in a hungry and somewhat vengeful mood and within 17 mins of dominant play they were 4-0 up as first Dom Dwyer (pictured above), then Anthony Pullis, Jamie Watson and Dwyer again all netted in front of the delighted home fans. Dwyer duly completed a first half hat-trick in the 40th minute as Orlando took a 5-0 scoreline into half time.
Any thoughts Antigua may have had then of some respite were quickly diminished as Orlando started the second half the way they began the first. Three good chances were missed before Antigua scored an own goal in the 49th minute and when Rob Valentino (pictured above) neatly headed home Jonathan Mendoza’s cross in the 54th minute you could easily see Orlando going into double figures. The fact they didn’t was largely due to a combination of some excellent goalkeeping by Antigua keeper Corey Whisehunt (pictured below) and City’s wastefulness in front of goal.
The 7-0 scoreline enabled City head coach Adrian Heath the chance to give some fringe players a run out as Erik Ustruck, Justin Clark and Mendoza all got valuable playing time. Antigua, to their credit, never gave up and showed great pride in scoring two goals through Hazeley Ryle and a City own goal in the 76th and 89th minutes.
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A crowd of 6,580 fans saw the goal fest and they also heard from Orlando City president Phil Rawlins and City of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer who vowed, despite the political set back thatwould have created a process where pro teams would compete for $13 million a year in state incentives, to bring MLS Soccer to Orlando as soon as possible. It was a good night for the Lions and they now travel to Seattle Sounders reserves for their next game on Sunday, May 12th.
