ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (July 7, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies tried to rally against the defending USL Cup champions in the second half of Saturday night’s match, but came up just short, falling 2-1 to Louisville City FC at Al Lang Stadium.
The Rowdies (6-7-4, 22 points) trailed 1-0 at halftime and tied the game up with Junior Flemmings’ goal in the 71st minute, but Louisville’s Cameron Lancaster scored the game winner with a perfect free kick just five minutes later.
“They say you learn more in a defeat than in a win,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said. “I learned a lot against Penn and I learned a lot tonight. I’ll digest it and again, I’m in a situation where I’ve got a bit of a threadbare squad, but hopefully by next week and the following week, we’ll have more additions and we can start making the changes that we want and have more competition for places.”
Despite playing on short rest after Wednesday night’s victory over Toronto FC II, it was the Rowdies that looked sharper in the opening stages of the game.
Rowdies forward Leon Taylor nearly hustled himself into a goal just six minutes into the game when he almost stole a lazy Louisville back pass, but Louisville goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh got to the ball just in time to clear the danger.
Around the 20 minute mark, Louisville (8-3-5, 29 points) started pulling itself back into the game.
Tampa Bay fell behind in the 22nd minute when a Niall McCabe cross found Kyle Smith at the back post for Louisville’s opening goal.
In the 38th minute, the Rowdies were very unlucky not to score a goal as a Flemmings shot was deflected onto the crossbar and then fell right onto the foot of Sebastian Guenzatti on the goal line, but it somehow managed to stay out.
The Rowdies pushed hard for the equalizer, with Leo Fernandes coming into the match in the 60th minute and Stefano Bonomo entering in the 62nd.
In the 67th minute, Fernandes had a header on frame, but Ranjitsingh made one of his four saves to keep Louisville ahead.
Tampa Bay wouldn’t have to wait too much longer for a goal though, with Bonomo flicking on a Fitzgerald long ball to Flemmings. The Jamaican forward outmuscled his defending and raced toward goal before firing a low shot from 16 yards that beat Ranjitsingh and snuck into the side netting to pull the Rowdies even.
The Rowdies’ momentum was suffocated shortly after though, when Louisville City was given a free kick 24 yards from goal. Lancaster whipped his free kick around the wall and into the top corner of the net, giving Fitzgerald no chance to make the save and putting the Rowdies down 2-1.
“I’m very disappointing,” said Rowdies defender Tamika Mkandawire, who captained the Rowdies in the match. “I think they created about three chances and scored two, one of which was a free kick, so they gave us a lesson in finishing and that’s why they’re the champions. They made us work really hard for what we did get and they finished their chances.”
Tampa Bay’s best chance to equalize came in the 83rd minute when Ranjitsingh made a great diving save to push a Bonomo header wide.
“We created a lot of chances,” Collins said. “I think we created far more clear-cut opportunities than Louisville, but it’s not about creating chances, it’s about putting it in the back of the net and they managed to put the ball in the back of the net twice in three chances and we just didn’t manage to find the right pass or take our chances. I’m pleased we created the chances, but I want to start winning games.”
Scoring Summary
Louisville City: Kyle Smith (assisted by Niall McCabe) – 22nd Minute
Tampa Bay: Junior Flemmings (assisted by Stefano Bonomo) – 71st Minute
Louisville City: Cameron Lancaster – 76th Minute
Caution Summary
Louisville City: Paco Craig – 41st Minute
Louisville City: Devon Williams – 44th Minute
Louisville City: Patrick McMahon – 51st Minute
Louisville City: Paolo DelPiccolo – 88th Minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (4-3-3): GK Akira Fitzgerald; D Hunter Gorskie, Tamika Mkandawire (c), Ivan MagalhaÌes, Max Lachowecki; M Martin Vingaard, Dominic Oduro, Michael Nanchoff (Alex Morrell 82′); F Junior Flemmings, Leon Taylor (Stefano Bonomo 62′), Sebastian Guenzatti (Leo Fernandes 46′)
Louisville City XI (5-4-1): GK Greg Ranjitsingh; D Kyle Smith, Paco Craig, Sean Totsch, Oscar Jimenez, Patrick McMahon; M Paolo DelPiccolo (c), Devon Williams, Magnus Rasmussen (Ilija Ilic 83′), Niall McCabe (George Davis IV 68′); F Cameron Lancaster
