NPSL Round Up: Week 4
Friday
Sioux Falls Thunder 0-2 Duluth FC
The undefeated BlueGreens took the win after goals from the 57th minute through the Mineiro Felipe Oliveira, who attends Wisconsin-Superior. The game was put beyond doubt by half time substitute, Londoner Harvey McLoughlin (also attending Wisconsin-Superior) in stoppage time at the end of the second half.
Joy Athletic Club 3-0 Iowa Demon Hawks
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, St Cloud State standout Philip Caputo scored twice and Jessie Juarez added a third as Joy saw off early pressure and snagged goals in the 21st and 29th, with the third in the early going of the second half.
Saturday
Minnesota Blizzard FC 2-2 Iowa Demon Hawks
A counter attack down the right in the 12th minute by Evan Carlson to put the visitors on top, but only a minute later Owen Johnson was sent off for handling the ball outside his area. The subsequent free kick was whipped past the makeshift “goalkeeper” (and defender) Mauricio Groppo by Cian Mcgoey to level the score and that is how it would stand at half time.
Around the hour mark, it looked like Blizzard would join Demon Hawks, Thunder, Joy and Siouxland with at least 6 points in an almighty log-jam for playoff positioning, when J Morgan slotted home from an attack down their right. Instead, the ten men got up off the canvas and punched back only two mins later, Carlson blasting home his second from the top of the area.
Siouxland United 1-0 Duluth FC
Siouxland United provided a spark in second half stoppage time of a match otherwise dominated by box to box midfield action. A long throw from the right was flicked on by a Duluth defender, into the path of Sporting KC academy graduate (out of Kansas City, MO) Abdulmuni Abdalla, who proceeded to take off his shirt in celebration and receive a second yellow card for delaying the restart. It is the second game in a row that the Outlaws have lost their discipline late, but they are now on a three game winning streak and have taken the first points of the season off the BlueGreens.