NPSL Midwest Week 8: Recap
Friday:
Med City FC 4 vs Dakota Fusion FC 1 – 6:45pm – Rochester Regional Stadium, Rochester, MN – Eleven Sports
Med City did what they need to do in the playoff hunt, jumping up to second with a masterful display of set piece play. The scoring was opened from a corner, finished by Jack Hilton-Jones. Ayrton Redmore finished off a free kick in the 32nd minute for 2-0. The third goal came from a corner, finished off by Till Trippner. Two minutes later, Fusion spoiled the clean sheet with a goal from Aaron Pike but Redmore made it 4-1 off a corner in the 80th minute to complete the home team’s scoring.
Saturday:
Minneapolis City SC 3 vs LC Aris SC 0 – 6pm – Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis, MN – YouTube
The Crows cruised to a three goal win against a spirited, and lightly refereed, Aris. Nick Hutton opened the scoring in the 20th minute, across the keeper, low to the right. Arthur Parens had a tap in in the 31st minute and Eli Goldman scored in the 49th minute to complete the stroll. The Crows remain perfect on the season so far.
Joy Athletic Club 1 vs Duluth FC 5 – 7pm – Oriole Stadium, St Louis Park, MN – CCX Media
Sidney Warden picked up two, a chip on the run over the approaching keeper and a penalty, and Aiden Hill scored. Gabriel Campora scores another substitute goal and Michael Devlin also came off the bench to tally, as Duluth FC ensure that their goal difference advantage over Med City FC remains intact and retake playoff position from the team from Rochester.
In the process, Duluth FC end any hope that Joy AC have of taking that playoff spot. Dennis Mensah scored for Joy, with their only shot of the first half, with virtually the last kick of that half.
FC Columbus 2 vs Panathinaikos Chicago 1 – 7pm – Roberts Field at the Wellington School, Columbus, OH – Eleven Sports
The 1-0 lead came in the 31st minute as PAO whipped in a corner from the right wing, headed onto the left side of the crossbar and the goalkeeper was beaten to the rebound by Salvation Nkiko. Even with the Greens dominating possession, Jordan Dees took the ball in from the left wing and let fly from distance through the keeper for 1-1 in the 79th minute. Three minutes later, Dees completed the comeback for the visitors.
Sunday:
FC Milwaukee Torrent 7 vs FC Indiana 2 – 3pm – Hart Park, Wauwatosa, WI – Eleven Sports
A winless FC Indiana was handed a decisive defeat against a Torrent team on the edge of running a perfect regular season. Things started badly for the Lions as they conceded an 8th minute penalty kick to Malik Mennana for a cynical tackle on Torrent’s Gutierrez in the box. 2-0 came from Tony Doellefeld as a short pass across the box was lifted back past the goal keeper into the upper left hand corner of the net.
Mennana claimed his second after only 22 minutes, chipping the keeper as he came out to the edge of the box. It was 4-0 through Alex Filian in the 30th minute, with a tap-in, and the same player made it 5-0 less than a minute later with a considerably less easy finish off the rebound after an Indiana player smacked into the post with a block. Indiana’s first goal came in the 42nd minute as Andrew Revanales beat his defender for speed.
Ricardo John made it 5-2 on a counterattack. A Shemar De Gannes header in the 80th minute salted away any remaining doubt and the host’s final goal came when Ian Cerro chipped the FC Indiana keeper from 50 yards out.