BRADENTON, Fla. (July 17, 2017) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies U23’s dropped their final match of the PDL season 3-2 to the hands of the hosting IMG Academy squad.
Although the playoffs were not within the view of either squad coming into Monday’s match, both sides were determined to finish the long summer schedule on as high a note as they could.
The fact that the game was the final one of the season for both sides was certainly not the most unique factor. Considering the significant shortage of players on both sides, there was only one player activated as a substitute for IMG and a completely empty bench for the Rowdies U23’s.
Beyond that, Tampa Bay was forced to use a keeper as a field player throughout the entire match as Christian Knight played forward in the first half and swapped spots with starting keeper Chris Morrish in the second half.
Furthermore, the game was a continuation off of the first twelve minutes of play that were initially completed on Tuesday. As a result, both sides had a little less time to close off the other and take the win.
It didn’t take long for the home team to get on the board as Gianluca Carbone opened up scoring for IMG in the 22nd minute after he put the ball past a diving Chris Morrish.
With that being said, the Rowdies responded quickly as Mac Curran put the ball past the keeper thanks to a nice assist from the converted keeper Christian Knight. The score got the U23’s bench and road crowd believing in the field abilities of the USF net minder.
Though depleted, the U23’s finished out the rest of the first half strong maintaining the 1-1 tie by thwarting a number of IMG attacks before the halftime whistle blew.
Starting the second half, however, IMG asserted themselves and continued to control possession. This ended up benefiting the home squad within the first fifteen minutes of the half.
In the 57th minute, striker Danny Avila had an incredible strike that rocketed off the left pole and into the back of the net thanks to a nice feed by Antonio Colacci.
From there it seemed like IMG would continue to control possession through the rest of the half. The Rowdies U23’s found it difficult to get back into the flow of the game but still were able to find their golden opportunity.
Tampa Bay midfielder Gabriel Fernandes found a slight window between a number of IMG defenders and rocketed a shot into the left side netting to tie the game in the 75th minute for the Rowdies.
From there it seemed like the Rowdies, although playing with a goalie at striker, would be able to hang on and take another point for the third consecutive game.
That hope was sadly crushed when Monty Benow scored on a run into the box fed by Gianluca Carbone. Carbone’s presence was felt yet again proving be a true thorn in the side of the Rowdies this season after he scored a game winner in the first matchup between the two sides.
The go-ahead goal proved to be the game winner and the strike that broke the hopes of the Tampa Bay side. As the final whistle blew a sense of closure came over the visitor’s side as a long and winding season came to an end.
Although not logging much in terms of statistics, Jordan Day put together arguably his best performance of the season working through injury to once again put immense strain on the IMG backline. After performing incredibly well in the first matchup between the two teams at Al Lang Stadium, Day finished the season on an incredibly strong note.
Overall, the Rowdies side showed incredible resilience twice coming back from a deficit and fighting through a depleted roster and empty bench.
Though the season finished in a loss, the Rowdies truly put together a very strong final run through their first PDL season and have made plenty of progress heading into the college soccer season.
The U23’s will be back in action once again next summer! Thank you to everyone who has supported the team this season!
Scoring Summary
IMG: Gianluca Carbone – 22nd Minute
Tampa Bay: Mac Curran – 26th Minute (Assisted by Christian Knight)
IMG: Danny Avila – 57th Minute (Assisted by Antonio Colacci)
Tampa Bay: Gabriel Fernandes – 75th Minute (Assisted by Ivan Castro)
IMG: Monty Benow – 80th Minute (Assisted by Gianluca Carbone)
Caution Summary
IMG: Angel Ferias – 63rd Minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies U23 XI (4-1-4-1): GK Chris Morrish; D Ivan Castro, Pico Espinal, Gustavo Fernandes, Macsen Pritchard; CDM Jordan Day; M Mac Curran, Gabriel Fernandes, Connar Lufkin, Caleb George; F Christian Knight
IMG Academy XI (4-3-3): GK Jake Agnew; D Logan Moriarty, Patrick Kibler, Angel Ferias, Gianluca Carbone; M Raheem Somersall, Michael Cormack, Antonio Colacci; F Monty Benow, Bernard Yeboah, Danny Avila