Crows draw with man-down RKC Third Coast in USL2 season opener
Minneapolis City SC and RKC Third Coast opened their 2025 USL League Two season last Sunday at Edor Nelson Field in Minneapolis. Unfortunately for both clubs, the match ended in a 3-3 draw after a series of late lead changes, sending both teams back to the dressing room in a less-than-jubilant mood.
After having massive success in the NPSL with three straight division titles, the Crows have struggled since entering USL2 in the 2022 season. City has finished no higher than second bottom in the Deep North Division over the previous three seasons, but in a new look Heartland Division the Crows aim to get back to their NPSL success. Minneapolis head coach Justin Oliver said, "To be honest USL2 is head and shoulders above NPSL so it’s been an adjustment period for the club but we are looking forward to doing better this season and in the future we want to get back to competing for championships like we were in NPSL but the quality of opposition is very high."
RKC Third Coast meanwhile has been a top contender in their previous two seasons, making the playoffs in 2023 and missing them by just two points in 2024. The 'Gulls will be shooting for a top two finish to make the USL2 playoffs in a newly reformatted Central Conference Heartland Division that sees quite a few changes, including longtime member Des Moines Menace moving to the Great Plains division.
RKC opened the match with a quick goal just two minutes into the match, with John Wandschneider nabbing the goal for the visitors. Wandschneider would not be on the pitch much longer as he was handed a yellow in the 8th minute followed by a second yellow and being sent off in the 34th minute. Even down one man though, RKC showed the boisterous crowd they were in control, before doubling their lead with a late first half goal from Jaden Prado.
Just two minutes into the second half, Jackson Kirsch headed up to the spot and put the Crows on the board, cutting the RKC lead in half at the 47th minute.
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Just before the 50th minute the Crows added a second goal from Preston Kipnusu to draw the match level, and later in the half Kirsch stepped up to the spot again and struck home to put the hosts up 3-2 and secure himself a brace. "It feels good to score a brace in the opener, said Jackson Kirsch. "I’m always happy to help the team in any way. I was glad to get off to a good start and grow some confidence for some continued output this season."
But the lead was not to last as with 10 minutes plus stoppage to play, RKC Third Coast's Nicholas Pendleton scored on a thundering shot from inside the box to draw the match level once again at 3-3, where it would end.
"It's a tough one to swallow not holding on to the result but sometimes that is football," Jackson Kirsch said. "I am proud of the lads for fighting and being resilient especially being 2-0 down at halftime. There is still much to be proud of."
"For the USL2 season we are going to go game by game and put our best foot forward each time and try to leave with 3 points," said Minneapolis head coach Justin Oliver. "We have goals and ambitions of being a top team in our conference and making the playoffs but you don’t do that by talking about it, you do it by have a process you trust in and buy into each day / game to try and get the best possible result."
MN Super Cup Final: St Croix Legends 3-0 Mpls City SC
The 2024 Minnesota Super Cup final on Thursday, July 25, featured cross-town rivals St Croix Legends and Minneapolis City SC, both making their first appearance in the championship game. St. Croix closed out a high-octane performance with a 3-0 win, leaving Macalester Stadium with a cup and a clean sheet.
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The inaugural final in 2023 saw Med City FC defeat the MNUFC U-19s for their last piece of hardware before folding in the offseason. This year's match-up was a little more personal, with an added dose of friendly competition. Following their meeting in the USL-2 regular season finale, which City won 2-0 on St. Croix's own turf, Thursday's match leveled the Oliver Derby.
Head coach Tyler Oliver's Legends had a slight edge over Justin Oliver's Crows, as the latter lost a handful of key defenders to the college season since that last match. The Legends capitalized on that shuffled backline early, opening the scoring in the 13th minute. Asher Ozuzu ran it in from midfield on a breakaway, slipping a shot past City goalkeeper Evan Siefken.
"I do think we got some great performances from three CBs who stepped up and played their first minutes of the season there," said City head coach Justin Oliver. "Andrew [Soczynski], Sam [Keading] and Tomas [Menna] were all very good today and I’m so proud of their performances. That legends attack is really good and really dangerous so to only concede one through the run of play from them was big time."
Ozuzu's tally was the only goal to come from the run of play. Soczynski, Keading, and Menna, all grew into the match, which became more chippy and physical as the officials became more and more likely to call fouls by the Crows while saying 'play on' after similar fouls by Legends.
St. Croix scored their second goal in the 43rd minute, this from a freekick in a crowded box. Siefken and a number of defenders called for a handball but it was ruled a goal for St. Croix's Stu Sain. City had a few decent chances, including a corner kick in stoppage time but the ball was skied over the crossbar, allowing the Legends a 2-0 lead at the break.
Nathan Donovan made it 3-0 less than a minute into the second half, another set piece that found Siefken's defenders off guard.
Legends head coach Tyler Oliver praised his players' offensive efforts: "Massive credit to the guys on our team today for creating a ton of chances and executing at a high rate on set pieces which was going to be strength of ours heading into the game because of no Kent brothers and others in the back. The game plan was to attack space and attack in transition today as that’s where we are the most dangerous and it showed today with Evan [Siefken] making a high high number of saves and Nolan [Meyer] being relatively uncalled on today especially in the opening 65 minutes."
While the Crows spent plenty of time in the Legends' final third through the last half hour of the match, they were unable to find a consolation goal. Had the match gone on for another 10 or 20 minutes, Sidike Jebatah could have leveled it himself on will, but he could not buy a goal in 90 minutes. Henri Tophoven and Eli Goldman also threw themselves forward.
"I thought we were brilliant on the ball today and just didn’t have that final ball or that finishing touch one of them was always missing," Justin said of the Crows' effort. "Tons of respect for St. Croix and they earned a win tonight by capitalizing off some moments we didn’t compete well enough on."
He continued: "We went into the game with the same plan as always which is to press and defend as high up the field as possible while also always trying to build and play as much as possible too. The squad was absolutely good enough to win and get a result with a lot of guys that featured a lot this season and also a lot guys that were playing the first or first couple games of the season for us. We unfortunately didn’t defend set pieces well enough today and went down 2-0 on them."
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As the players' focus shifts to the college season, so too for the Oliver brothers. Justin will return to his head coaching role at St. Olaf. Tyler, who serves as men's head coach at Hamline, said, "It’s always great to coach against Justin. He won national coach of the year at the D3 level for a reason and he showcased that with City this summer as well. Nice to get one over him heading into the fall where it’s a tall task again."
The Minnesota Super Cup will return for a third year in 2025 and, for the first time, will include a women's tournament. Billed as "a showcase of the best pre-professional soccer talent in Minnesota", the tournament has raised the interest and stakes in the state's lower division market and added an extra layer of competition to the season. A touch of brotherly - and perhaps, one day, sisterly - rivalry is a nice keystone in that growth.
