Week 16 of the USL Championship season has come to a close and the Tampa Bay Rowdies remain unbeaten for the ninth straight week after a thrilling 4-2 comeback win at Loudoun United FC. That puts this year’s squad four shy of the club record of 13 straight matches without a loss, which the Rowdies have achieved twice in Head Coach Neill Collins’ tenure.
The win puts Tampa Bay within two points of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
First Comeback
The thing that sets Saturday’s win in Loudoun apart from the rest of Tampa Bay’s victories so far is that it’s the first time the Rowdies have completed a comeback win since their road win at Monterey Bay on October 22 last year. Saturday in Loudoun was the fifth match this season in which the Rowdies conceded the first goal. All but one of those previous four matches ended in defeat for the Rowdies.
Tampa Bay erased the deficit not just once but twice against Loudoun. The hosts were the aggressors at the start of both halves, scoring twice within the first ten minutes. It’s never ideal to go down in a match — let alone twice in the same match – but it is an inevitability. For the Rowdies to show they are capable of clawing their way back into a match to not just salvage a point but secure all three points is a good sign that the squad has what it takes to fight through adversity.
“The biggest positive of the night would be the character of the group. They showed resilience. To score four goals on the road said a lot about our ability to create chances,” said Collins. “…It certainly won’t go down as one of our best performances, but it could go down as one of our biggest wins.”
Jennings, Harris Spark Rally
It took Cal Jennings only 15 minutes on Saturday to double his goal total for the season. The Rowdies trailed when Jennings entered along with Dayonn Harris in the 64th minutes, but the duo helped the Rowdies equalize in the 69th minute and take the lead in the 78th minute.
“When you’ve got five or six guys that are really off it, it makes it really difficult,” said Collins. “But when you’ve got special players to bring off the bench like we do, you’ve always got a chance.”
As he did last year off the bench in Loudoun, Harris provided critical crosses from the right flank to break open the defense. The Canadian notched an assist with a whipped in cross between the keeper and back line that found the foot of Jennings for a one-touch finish. Five minutes later, Jennings showed great awareness to take one touch on JJ Williams’ cross to pull the ball back and avoid a sliding defender on the goal line before burying his next touch.
“This week in training, Cal has been banging in goals left and right,” said Collins. “He’s shown me that he wants those minutes. He’s been training well, but this week he really made a point. We got him on early and he showed exactly what he’s capable of. At times it’s not down to one player and what they’re doing. It’s down to what the team as a whole is doing. At times Cal has had to play a lesser role than he would’ve liked. But that’s part of being at a big club that wants to win. You’ve got players for competition. I’m sure Cal will kick on from here.”
Selflessness
Selflessness was a word emphasized by Collins a few times postmatch. When you’re backs against the wall, it’s good to know that the person by your side is in it for the common goal of overcoming the challenge together. That extra run off the ball, the crucial 50-50 duel in midfield, the additional pass for the unmarked man – it all adds up to achieving the long term goal of winning.
JJ Williams and Cal Jennings provided two key examples on Saturday. On the goal to put the Rowdies ahead for the first time, Williams chased down a ball on the left sideline after cross flew through the box. Williams won the ball on the sideline, drove into the box and waited for the perfect moment to pick out Jennings on the back post.
For the fourth and final tally of the night, Jennings only had the keeper to beat in order to complete his hat trick but instead chose to center a pass for Jake LaCava for a simple tap-in conversion.
“When you talk about selflessness, JJ chasing that ball down just shows that even when you’re not at your best that you can do that,” said Collins. “JJ won the ball, made a great set up for Cal and Cal repaid the favor later on to Jake LaCava. If we’ve got players willing to do those things, you’re a hard team to beat.”
