News

The Rowdies spent more than two hours on the practice field Monday morning at Shimberg Fields after an off day on Sunday as they look ahead to this Saturday’s road match at Puerto Rico. Tampa Bay will face the Islanders this Saturday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bayamon Soccer Complex.

“The boys came in this morning with the right focus and attitude after the disappointing loss Saturday night,” said Rowdies head coach Ricky Hill. “I think the players are putting in the effort, but ultimately little mistakes and individual errors are hurting us and we need to eliminate those.”

Despite the loss at Ft. Lauderdale last Saturday, the Rowdies are still just five points out of first place in the NASL standings, with co-leaders Minnesota and Puerto Rico leading the way with 17 points. Tampa Bay has 12 points this season, with San Antonio (16 points) and Ft. Lauderdale (13 points) sitting just above it in the table.

“There are a lot of games left to play, but we have just three wins after 10 games and that is disappointing given the quality of our team and the manner in which we have played,” said Hill. “We haven’t put together a run of victories yet. I want us to win the league in the regular season and I want us to win the championship as well. But in order to do that, we need to come together as a group and really focus on making it more difficult for teams to score against us and execute better offensively when we get our opportunities.”

The Rowdies are in the midst of a busy stretch of games. Saturday’s 3-1 loss at the Strikers, which snapped Tampa Bay’s nine-game unbeaten streak in the series, was the fifth match in 15 days for the club and also opened a string of three consecutive road contests.

Fans can watch this week’s match at Puerto Rico at the Official Away Game Viewing Party hosted by Crowley’s Downtown Grill and Bar (269 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL 33701).

Tampa Bay returns home for a three-match homestand starting on Saturday, June 23 when the Rowdies host San Antonio at 7:30 p.m., presented by Jimmy John’s. For ticket information for all Rowdies home games, call 813-287-1539.