NPSL Round Up: Week 4
This Week
Friday
Michigan Rangers 1-2 Erie Commodores
Rangers took the lead shortly after a hydration break in the thirty-first minute, as a run down the right was squared to the center and Adam Hanson half-volleyed a ball which had been saved. Commodores equalized after Roberto Lagoa unleashed a shot into the roof of the net from fully 18 yards out in the thirty-fifth minute. Erie secured a PK in first half stoppage time and Chanin Orlandin calmly sent the keeper the wrong way to make it 2-1. In an evenly contested second half, Rangers were nonetheless unable to prevent their visitors from picking up a first win of the season.
Akron City FC 0-6 Steel City FC
Steel City took the lead in the twelfth minute as a cross from the right was swept home by an unmarked Michael Sullivan in the center of the area. A solo run down between the hashes provided an opportunity for a second goal for Steel City, the finish dispatched with aplomb into the bottom right hand corner of the goal by Nicholas Graeca in first half stoppage time. A ball across from the right into the heart of the penalty area saw Tate Mohney make it 3-0 in the fifty-eighth minute. It was only four minutes after that that it was 4-0, Nathan Prex scoring in similar fashion after a close pass from the right. The score hit 5 in the sixty-seventh minute, as the ball squeezed through traffic along the end line and was finished off by Gabriel Norris at the near post. A sixth goal came in the eighty-seventh minute, Eben McIntyre sliding in to take the ball in from the right.
Ryan Williams tapped in to put Carpathia ahead in the thirty-sixth minute, following a goalmouth scramble from a corner – capitalizing on a period of pressure. However, the home side equalized in the forty-fourth minute after a long route one pass was slotted home by Julian Pellegrini. Logan Pinton hammered the go-ahead goal for Cleveland home in the seventieth minute, coming in from the right.
Des Moines United 1-1 Milwaukee Torrent
An in-swinging cross from the left into the penalty area was finished off by Lucas Nesthus in the twenty-seventh minute to put Torrent ahead. Torrent goalie Nick Schiappa parried a firmly hit shot by DMU and Torrent retained their lead. The visitors also skewed wide with another chance to equalize in the fortieth minute. The home side equalized in the seventy-ninth minute through a Erich Legut header, back where a long cross from the right wing had come.
Saturday
The opening ten minutes saw a flurry of Duluth corners, but Fusion held steady and had their own period of possession. Nonetheless, the visitors did break through in the fifteenth minute, via Stefan Roeb. They doubled their lead just two minutes later, a pass from the right credited to Roeb but seemingly deflected past the Fusion goalie Jamie Colvill. In the twenty-first minute, the BlueGreens made it three, continuing their domination of the right wing. A long ball over to the left was then passed back towards the center for Tyler Limmer to finish. Fusion had their first shot on goal in the twenty-seventh minute, but it was saved easily. The fourth goal of the match came about in first half stoppage time, Kostya Domaratskyy sweeping the ball home from the center of the box having been involved in a give and go down the left wing. Shoki Yoshida spoiled the clean sheet in the fifty-seventh minute, feeding off a Tsukanome one-two. Paul Bobai made it 5-1 in the sixty-eighth minute, following an attempt on goal by Domaratskyy.
Iowa Raptors 3-2 Sunflower State FC
Carson Wilcox put the visitors ahead in the sixth minute but Ombeni Mubake equalized in the twenty-fifth. Less than ten minutes later, Raptors’ Enrique Horna was dismissed for violent conduct but Ronaldo Rojas made it 2-1 for the ten men in the 42nd minute but Tim Smith levelled scores in the 45th and it took an eighty-sixth minute winner from the Raptors’ Connor Patton to separate the two sides on the scoresheet.
Joy Athletic Club 5-3 Minnesota TwinStars
TwinStars took the lead in the twenty-ninth minute through Miguel Arellano. Joy equalized in the thirty-sixth, with Zinedine Kroeten the scorer. TwinStars took back the lead in first half stoppage time, with a Famade Bamba strike.
In the fifty-second minute, Spencer Enright tied the game for the Goats. Kroeten grabbed his second of the game only six minutes later to put the home side on top. Despite a double save, Joy made it 4-2 in the sixty-fourth minute through David Riera’s volley from twenty yards out. Anthony Mator made it 4-3 with a tally for TwinStars but the hosts had the last laugh, a PK in the seventieth minute sealing a hat trick for Kroeten.
La Crosse Aris FC 2-1 Sioux Falls Thunder
Lewis Albert put the South Dakotans ahead in the fifteenth minute but the home side equalized in the thirty-eighth minute through Stan Cargill and scored the Game Winning Goal just before half time, Anfernee Stokes the scorer.
Club Atletico Saint Louis 1-2 Ehtar Belleville
The visitors made the 30 mile road trip West for their first St Louis derby and went ahead in the nineteenth minute, when Adam Knight dinked a ball over the keeper from close range after Ehtar had successfully fought for possession in the right back spot. Anthony Brown equalized for Club Atletico from the penalty spot in the thirty-second minute. The visitors retook the lead in the fifty-seventh minute, as Wyatt Fowler finished a sweeping move which started on the edge of their own penalty area.
Sunday
Erie Commodores 1-0 Akron City FC
Commodores took all three points on the back of a Philipp Strube goal from a corner in the first minute of second half stoppage time.
Steel City FC 1-1 Carpathia FC
Michael Teller opened the scoring for the visitors in the eleventh minute but Steel City grabbed an equalizer in the seventieth minute from Tate Mohney.
FC Columbus 0-4 Michigan Rangers
Liam Smith opened the scoring for Rangers in the thirty-third minute, ending a rapid counter attack with a powerful strike across the goalkeeper and into the far side netting. Three minutes later it was 2-0, as Max Wilhelm finished off a swift breakaway. Smith claimed his second of the game after Cameron Power drove in from the left and saw his shot parried away. George Pitsillides made it 4-0 with a strong drive from the middle of the area back across the keeper.
Wednesday
Club Atletico Saint Louis 3-4 Sunflower State FC
The Bluebirds of CASL conceded an early penalty when an attack was rudely interrupted by a foul in the area. Tim Smith stepped up and dispatched the PK. Sunflower went up further only two minutes later after an attack down the left was centered and Jack Souder finished it off. Nick Faddis halved the deficit on thirty-two when his free kick from forty yards out on the left was allowed to bounce and skip its way untouched into the goal. In the sixty-first minute, the game was tied as Kyeron Daws capitalized on inattentive defending and hung around the back line as a goal kick was headed back towards him. Daws flicked the bouncing ball up over the Sunflower keeper. Two minutes later, the visitors had taken the lead again, Smith heading home a searching cross from the left. Blake Barrick then made the game safe in the sixty-ninth minute, somehow evading the dive of the Bluebirds keeper. CASL attempted to rally, on the back of an eightieth minute penalty but were unable to score the equalizer.
Milwaukee Torrent 0-2 Des Moines United
On an evening when the finishing product was missing for the home team, the first shot on target for Torrent was registered in the sixty-third minute, and it would be the seventy-first before the deadlock was broken. A long pass downfield was chested down by Jayce Berger and slotted home. Lesego Maloma scored in the second minute of second half stoppage time to salt away the win.
Thursday
La Crosse Aris FC 0-6 Dakota Fusion
A Yu Tsukanome hat trick (his second of the season) was punctuated by goals from Shoki Yoshida, Mate Lengyel and Ben Colborn to put the Fusion back in second place.
Coming Up
Tonight
Des Moines United v Ehtar Belleville – 6pm CT
Steel City v Erie Commodores – 6pm ET
Akron City v Cleveland SC – 7pm ET
Iowa Raptors v Club Atletico St Louis – 7pm CT
Michigan Rangers v FC Columbus – 7pm CT
Saturday
Des Moines United v Club Atletico St Louis – 2pm CT
Iowa Raptors v Ehtar Belleville – 6pm CT
Duluth FC v Aris La Crosse – 7pm CT
Med City v Joy Athletic – 7pm CT
Minnesota TwinStars v Sioux Falls Thunder – 7pm CT
Sunday
Erie Commodores v Cleveland SC – 4:30pm ET
FC Columbus v Steel City – 5pm ET
Wednesday
Akron City v Erie Commodores – 7pm ET
Joy Athletic v Dakota Fusion – 7pm CT
LC Aris v Minnesota TwinStars – 7pm CT
Sioux Falls Thunder v Med City – 7pm CT
Thursday
Carpathia FC v Michigan Rangers – 7pm CT