ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies pummeled Phoenix Rising with three goals in the opening half on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium, setting the stage for a 3-0 victory and extending the Rowdies undefeated start to the USL Championship season to ten matches.
Saturday’s result completed a perfect three-match week for the Rowdies that included a a 4-1 road win against Miami FC in the Prinx Tires USL Cup and a midweek 1-0 win at New Mexico United.
“I think we were pretty hot coming out to start,” said Rowdies Head Coach Dominic Casciato. “Scoring early always helps and calms your nerves that you might have going into the game, and then to get the second goal quickly after that helped us manage the game. I would have liked us to put our foot on the gas a little bit more, especially in the second half, but looking at it as a 9-point week you can’t be too critical of the guys. I think we showed the strength of our squad tonight.”
Tampa Bay wasted no time pulling ahead of Phoenix. Before the second minute of the match had elapsed, Pedro Dolabella found the back of the net with a right-footed strike past goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky. The scoring sequence started with a throw in from Rowdies Defender Brian Schaefer, who put the ball in play to teammate Marco Micaletto before receiving it again on the sideline and lifting a cross into the box. Forward MD Myers did well to control the cross and then flick the ball into the path of Dolabella for the finish.
Myers then doubled Tampa Bay’s advantage just before the half hour mark on a counterattack opportunity. Fullback Charlie Ostrem received the ball at midfield and drove forward before slipping a pass into the final third for Myers. The Rowdies striker worked worked his magic, trapping the ball with his right heel and then shaking off his defender with another tight turn before beating Rakovsky with a powerful strike for his third goal of the regular season.
“I think one thing we haven’t been great at this season is being really clinical on counterattacks,” said Myers. “This one was a great example of how dangerous we can be. Charlie starts driving and picked out a good pass to me and I kind of did my thing in the moment. It was a great finish. It was exciting.”
Midfielder Louis Perez, making his 100th career regular-season appearance, added Tampa Bay’s third tally only five minutes after Myers’ goal. After intercepting the ball in Phoenix defensive end, Micaletto quickly played the ball forward for Perez. The Frenchman used his window of space as he entered the box to rifle a shot that clipped the underside of the crossbar before crossing the line for a goal. It’s the third straight match in which Perez has notched a goal for the Rowdies.
“In the New Mexico game I felt like we could have had three, four goals and we could have been a lot more comfortable.,” said Rowdies Defender Nate Dossantos. “A big theme for tonight was just being ruthless and killing the game off. I think we did an excellent job of that.”
Goalkeeper Austin Pack kept the visitors at bay with three saves on the night, securing his second clean sheet of the year and Tampa Bay’s league-leading sixth shutout of the regular season. Pack’s final save of the match came deep in stoppage time as Phoenix’s leading scorer Ihsan Sacko tried one last time to get his side on the board with a free kick from distance that Pack deftly swatted away.
“I thought the defenders were excellent,” said Casciato. Brian Schaefer played the first half. Nate somehow did 90, this guy’s an absolute warrior. He’s been a real leader for our back line. Then Austin Pack coming in was tremendous. That play at the end of the game there was absolute class.”
Next up, the Rowdies hit the road again for a matchup against last year’s USL Championship Players’ Shield winners Louisville City FC on Saturday, May 30. The match will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network and is set to kick off at 7 p.m. ET.
“I don’t think we’re worried about being undefeated,” said Casciato. “We want to go there and try to take the game to them. Louisville have been the top team in league for the last few years now. It’s a great organization obviously and well coached with Danny Cruz and now Simon Bird. They’ve got really good players, but so do we. We think we can go there and go toe-to-toe with them.”
Scoring Summary
TBR – Dolabella (Myers), 2’
TBR – Myers (Ostrem), 28’
TBR – Perez (Micaletto), 33’
Stats Summary TBR / PHX
Shots: 13 / 8
Shots on Goal: 6 / 3
Saves: 3 / 3
Corner Kicks: 3 / 3
Fouls Conceded: 21 / 15
Offside: 0 / 0
Possession: 46.9 / 53.1
Lineups
TBR: Pack, Cruz (Rodriguez, 81’), Schaefer (Wyke, 46’), Dossantos, Ostrem, Dolabella (Schneider, 45’), Hilton, Perez (LeFlore, 67’), Micaletto, Conway, Myers (Vivi, 45’)
TBR Bench: Waite, LeFlore, Rodriguez, Tita, Wyke, Schneider, Vivi, Henderlong
PHX: Rakovsky, Smith, Boye, Pelayo (Ping, 17’), Biasi (Flores, 75’), Moursou (Rivera, 67’) Rivera (Vukovic, 75’), Sacko, Scearce, Avayevu, Ramirez ( Studdenthofft, 67’)
PHX BENCH: Odunze, Flores, Gaydon, Vukovic, Cross, Rivera, Studdenhofft, Ping
