NPSL Round Up: Week 2
This Week
Friday
Michigan Rangers 1-0 Akron City FC
Daire O'Riordan settled an even and open match, opening the NPSL account for Rangers in the 29th minute, after a successful high press and some neat interplay down the left wing culminated in an assist by Adam Hanson.
Steel City dominated possession and chances in the opening half, with Columbus relying on Damani Camara's counterattacking threat. Nonetheless, the breakthrough didn't come through until stoppage time before the half - through Tate Mohney. In what amounted to a 1-0 hammering, it took Steel City until the 81st minute to add a clinching second through Michael Sullivan's stooping header from a deep cross.
Saturday
Sunflower State FC 3-1 Club Atletico St Louis
The home team opened the scoring through Tim Smith after an incisive run down the left wing, leaving Smith with an opportunity inside the 6 yard box. The lead was doubled when a ball was pumped right up the spine of the CASL team and finished off by Bryce Dickerson. The match was over as a contest within 30 mins after an attack down the right wing was crossed to Caden McLagen for Sunflower's third. The visiting Bluebirds did manage to spoil the clean sheet in the 48th minute through Cole Hudson.
Milwaukee Torrent 2-0 Ehtar Belleville
After a goal-less first half, Samuka Toure's foray down the right wing was met on the volley in front of goal by Matabishi Kambali in the 70th minute. It took until stoppage time at the end of the match before Torrent were able to finally finish off their visitors, Paco Piscaglia passing across an open net for Will Davis to tap in.
Iowa Raptors 1-4 Des Moines United FC
Jayce Berger opened scoring for the visitors from the south in the 10th minute but the Raptors equalized in the 34th minute through Jordan Webb. Raptors lost the advantage on the scoreboard in the 60th minute through Guilherme Cunha and then swiftly lost the advantage in man-power with a denial of a goalscoring opportunity, seeing Stefan Mijatovic take an early shower. The match ended in chaos, with Kais Sabic (from a PK) and Lincoln Borges scoring in the 90th minute and Raptors Jonathan Williams and Keaton Woods both given straight red cards for abusive language.
Erie Commodores 0-3 Carpathia FC
Joseph Tinnion opened the scoring in the 29th minute, with the visitors doubling their lead through Alexander Demorow in the 52nd minute. The last goal came in the 90th minute, courtesy of Zain Akeel.
Dakota Fusion FC 4-1 Minnesota TwinStars FC
Daniel Helle touched home a left wing cross in the 19th minute to put the hosts ahead. TwinStars levelled matters from the penalty spot after a yellow card challenge in the 43rd minute. It took until the 73rd minute for the deadlock to be broken again, this time with Yu Tsukanome heading home a cross from the right wing. Tsukanome then increased the margin of victory 8 minutes later and he completed the hat trick in the 89th minute.
Duluth FC 3-1 Sioux Falls Thunder
Duluth went behind to a 4th minute strike from a free kick served from just outside the left hand side of the penalty area into the six yard box, by the center back Patrick Hanson. Stefan Roeb levelled the game in the 20th minute, running on to a long pass down the right wing to chip the Thunder goalie from outside the box. It took until the 65th minute for the home side to reassert their lead, with a cross by Kostya Domaratskyy finished off by Dylan Zavatini. Domaratskyy added a goal to his assist in the 75th minute, after a long pass down the middle was neatly finished, dribbling around two defenders in the box before finishing.
Med City FC 1-0 La Crosse Aris FC
In a scoreless first half, the clearest chance came when Aris had a penalty saved in the 20th minute, awarded for handball - with Med City GK Iker Gonzalez also stopping some other opportunities for the visitors. Entering the 50th minute, the match was suspended because one of the floodlight pylons was on fire. Play resumed after a 12 minute delay. Abdirasak Bulale hit the crossbar for Med City's best chance in the 75th minute of play. Scott Neil made the breakthrough for Med City in the 84th minute from a Lucas Hart assist and the home side made the narrow margin stand up.
Sunday
It only took 3 minutes for the home side to move ahead, with Colin Biros breaking through. Five minutes later, they doubled their lead after Josef Paulus scored direct from a corner. Columbus also gained a man advantage in the 52nd minute, as Malick Sow was dismissed. The resultant penalty kick was dispatched firmly by Sammy George.
Michigan Rangers 2-1 Cleveland SC
Chris Mendez had a good chance in the 10th minute, but Cleveland's Ryan Poling made a spectacular save and the rebound was put into the outside side netting. Poling snuffed out all the chances that Rangers produced during a lop-sided first half, but it entered half time goal-less. The visitors took the lead after a PK was awarded following contact at a corner, and dispatched by Jannis Schmidt. In the 68th minute, a Rangers shot was blasted at a Cleveland defender's hand and Chris Mendez stepped up to calmly put the PK in the opposite direction as Poling. Dara O'Riordan swept home a TJ Ifaturoti cross in the 73rd minute to complete the comeback.
Wednesday
Joy Athletic Club 2-3 Med City FC
Noah Kantorowicz opened the scoring for the hosts, scrambling home after a corner wasn't cleared in the 21st minute. The equalizer came off a turnover by the Joy defense, Scott Neil slotting home just before half time. A free kick from Gustavo Augusto Leal Murtha on the left wing, twenty yards out, bounced all the way through to give Med City the lead on fifty-eight. The equalizer came via a deep cross from the left by Zinedine Kroeten, deflected past the Med City keeper. The visitors took a final lead in the eighty-first minute after good close control and finish by Tristan Jumeau, who subsequently received a second yellow card and was dismissed.
La Crosse Aris FC 0-1 Duluth FC
A hard fought win for the visitors as the ball was crossed from the right wing over to Kostya Domaratskyy in the left back berth, who put the ball back past the goalkeeper in the 76th minute. Duluth head coach Sean Morgan was given a red card just before.
Sioux Falls Thunder FC 2-4 Minnesota TwinStars FC
TwinStars broke the deadlock in the tenth minute, Sidike Jabateh driving home a long diagonal into the left back spot, back across the keeper. Jabateh doubled the lead in the nineteenth minute with a solo effort. Another long ball into the channel, this time down the right wing, was neatly finished by Sadra Golzarian in the thirty-second minute. Despite outshooting their opponents 7-4, it took until the fifty-sixth minute for Thunder to score, through a PK from Marcus Harwood after an attack was definitively stopped deep in the box. It was 4-1 in the 59th minute as Jabateh blasted home from inside the box to complete his hat trick. Thunder earned their second goal in second half stoppage time through Harwood.
Coming Up
Friday
Carpathia FC v Akron City FC - 7pm CT
Cleveland SC v Michigan Rangers - 7pm ET
Erie Commodores v Steel City FC - 7pm ET
Saturday
Club Atletico St Louis v Iowa Raptors FC - 6pm CT
Ehtar Belleville v Des Moines United - 6pm CT
Duluth FC v Joy Athletic Club - 7pm CT
Milwaukee Torrent v Sunflower State FC - 7pm CT
Minnesota TwinStars v Med City FC - 7pm CT
Sioux Falls Thunder v Dakota Fusion - 7pm CT
Sunday
Club Atletico St Louis v Des Moines United - 2pm CT
Ehtar Belleville v Iowa Raptors - 2pm CT
FC Columbus v Erie Commodores - 5pm ET
Michigan Rangers v Steel City FC - 6pm ET
Wednesday
Duluth FC v Med City FC - 7pm CT
Joy Athletic Club v Sioux Falls Thunder - 7pm CT
NPSL Round-Up: Week 1
This week
Saturday
Steel City FC 2-1 Akron City FC
In Steel City's NPSL debut*, all the action came within a ten minute spell at the end of the first half. The home side broke the deadlock in the 36th minute with a penalty after Tate Mohney was upended in the box. Michael Sullivan was the scorer. 4 minutes later, ACFC drew level through Jaden Wright but the hosts reclaimed the lead again in the second minute of stoppage time from the edge of the box through Ryan Mertz.
* The league consider SCFC a continuation of Hotspurs' NPSL side, but the club were marking debuts.
https://twitter.com/SteelCityFC/status/1657527122594856963
After a goal-less hour in Auburn Hills, Jack Foht opened the scoring for the visitors, slotting home a Logan Penton assist after a long, raking diagonal into the left back corner.
Dakota Fusion FC 1-1 Med City FC
Following a scrappy opening 15 minutes, Fusion began to assert some control and had a couple of good chances to score. After another good chance for Fusion was boomed clear, the game levelled out again. Med City had a shot on goal, albeit from 30 yards out and it sailed over the crossbar and through the gridiron uprights. Daniel Helle broke the deadlock after a break down the right wing by Sebastian Acuna in the 40th minute. The half finished with a long throw from Med City into the Fusion box but it was cleared. MCFC had a good, early chance in the 2nd half but it was cleared. Fusion had a corner which went nowhere and pretty much immediately, Med City put a chance straight at the Fusion keeper Jamie Colvill. In the 68th minute, Med City looped a chance over the crossbar and less than a minute later, Lucas Hart equalized for the visitors on a solo effort, driving in from the left wing. It was mostly Med City pressure after that, although no golden chances. Máté Lengyel had a clear chance for Fusion in the 81st minute but Med City goalie Iker González managed to close it down. Med City had a golden chance but also skied it over the crossbar. Med City earned a corner but nothing more as the game entered stoppage time after a shot was blocked clear by Colvill. Fusion had two good chances in stoppage time but the game finished level.
Joy Athletic Club 3-1 LC Aris FC
The Goats' opener saw two penalty kicks, both scored by Zinedine Kroeten for Joy. Scoring was opened in the 33rd minute by Mika Folstad, tapping in a searching cross from Kroeten on the right wing. The first penalty came in stoppage time at the end of the first half when Bennett Kouame was tripped up by the Aris goalkeeper. That was the last action of the first half and the last touch for Kouame, who left injured.
Following some sustained possession by Aris, it was Joy who received their second penalty kick of the game from an agricultural challenge on Spencer Enright near the top of the box in the 51st minute. Kroeten then missed a golden opportunity to bag his hat trick from an Enright cross. In the 65th minute, Joy's goalkeeper Sam Gage saved an Aris shot with his knees. (It should be noted at this point that Gage was referred to as "an emergency goalie" by the club, and is listed as a forward). The visitors made the opportunity pay with a smart header from the corner. Shortly after, Aris took a long range potshot, which skipped off the rain-slicked surface and was scrambled wide by Gage. There then followed a sequence where Gage proved himself worthy of the gloves, denying multiple chances for Aris to draw even closer. Joy missed a solid opportunity when Owen Salzwedel missed. Aris had another good chance in the 85th minute, but the ball was headed wide. In the 89th minute, Aris burst forward but their shot on target crept along the goal line and off a post without going in. In stoppage time at the end of the game, Aris's Sebastian Acosta received a straight red card.
Minnesota TwinStars FC 0-3 Duluth FC
Rory Doyle provided the go-ahead goal for the visitors in the 34th minute. Their lead was doubled by Tyler Limmer in the 58th minute. A third goal came from Kostya Domaratskyy in the 66th minute.
Wednesday
Des Moines United FC 2-1 Sunflower State FC
A debut of two teams saw the home side go ahead in the 27th minute, Lesego Maloma finishing a counter attack. DMU went up by 2 from the penalty spot through Lincoln Borges just before half time, after a defender's shoulder barge was deemed a foul. DMU's Raphael Nascimento received a red card in the 60th minute. Sunflower halved the deficit with their own PK in the 70th minute, slotting past Rayane El Mehdi, who had conceded the penalty after overstretching and clipping an attacker in the area. In the end, despite a string of Sunflower corners, United were able to hang on for a season-opening win.
Coming up
Friday
Michigan Rangers v Akron City FC
Steel City FC v FC Columbus
Saturday
Sunflower State FC v Club Atletico St Louis
Milwaukee Torrent v Ehtar Belleville
Iowa Raptors v Des Moines United FC
Erie Commodores v Carpathia FC
Dakota Fusion FC v Minnesota TwinStars FC
Duluth FC v Sioux Falls Thunder
Med City FC v La Crosse Aris FC
Sunday
Akron City FC v Columbus SC
Michigan Rangers v FC Columbus
Wednesday
Joy Athletic Club v Med City FC
La Crosse Aris FC v Duluth FC
Sioux Falls Thunder FC v Minnesota TwinStars FC