ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies finished knotted at 1-1 to pick up a point in Saturday’s night’s road contest with Loudoun United FC.
With Saturday’s draw, the Rowdies are now undefeated through their first eight road matches of the regular season, establishing a new club record for longest stretch in a single season without a loss away from home. The Rowdies had previously gone unbeaten in seven straight road matches twice before, once in 2021 and again in 2022.
Tampa Bay’s one-goal lead held for just over an hour until the hosts found an equalizer in the final stages of the match.
“Learning how to put games away is essential,” said Rowdies Head Coach Dominic Caciato. “I think that’s one of the things that as this team continues to evolve, that’s going to be one of the lessons that we learn. Nights like tonight help you to learn these lessons.”
Rowdies Goalkeeper Jahmali Waite was called up to make two saves within the first ten minutes against Loudoun, denying Thorleifur Úlfarsson in the 6th minute and then thwarting Richard Aman just two minutes later. Waite would finish the night with 6 total saves.
Pedro Dolabella put the Rowdies out in front from the penalty spot in the 21st minute of the match. The Brazilian midfielder drew the foul to set up the scoring opportunity when he was fouled attempting to play a corner kick sent into Loudoun’s box. Dolabella fired his penalty attempt straight into the bottom right corner of the goal, beating Ethan Bandre to the spot after the Loudoun goalkeeper dove in that direction.
Ten minutes after Dolabella’s go-ahead goal, Rowdies Forward Evan Conway rattled the right post with a strike from just outside the box. Sebastian Cruz was in the area to collect the rebound, but he couldn’t manage to guide his effort on target.
The Rowdies had what appeared to be a second goal early into the second half but were denied by an offside flag. Rowdies Defender Yanis Leerman rose to meet a corner kick delivered to the front of the goal, sending a header down that deflected off a Loudoun defender before grazing the leg of Rowdies Midfielder Louis Perez on the goal line. Perez was deemed offside by the Assistant Referee, nullifying the scoring sequence.
Loudoun finally leveled things in the 82nd minute. Waite did well to handle an initial shot attempt from Arquímides Ordóñez only for the rebound to fall favorably for Úlfarsson, who promptly buried the ball into the net.
“I really don’t remember (Loudoun) having a ton of chances outside of the goal in the second half,” said Casciato. “…I think we probably should have scored another goal or two. We just paid the price for not doing that and for being a little bit lax on one of their counter attacks. I think we controlled the counter really well throughout the game. We spent a lot of time on controlling counter attacks. We let it slip a little bit in that moment and paid the price.”
Next up, the Rowdies remain on the road for a regular season battle with in-state rivals Miami FC on Saturday, July 25 at 7 p.m. ET.
Scoring Summary
TBR – Dolabella (Penalty), 21’
LDN – Ulfarsson, 82’
Caution Summary
LDN – Niyongabire (Yellow Card), 20’
TBR – Schneider (Yellow Card), 38’
LDN – Akinyode (Yellow Card), 65’
TBR – Myers (Yellow Card), 85’
LDN – Awuah (Yellow Card), 88′
Stats Summary TBR /LDN
Shots: 17 / 11
Shots on Goal: 3 / 7
Saves: 6 / 2
Corner Kicks: 5 / 5
Fouls Conceded: 17 / 5
Offside: 1 / 2
Possession: 51.2 / 48.8
Lineups
TBR: Waite, Cruz, Leerman, Dossantos, Ostrem, Schneider (Nigro, 73’), Hilton, Conway (Perez, 46’), Dolabella (Henderlong, 90’), Cicerone, Myers
TBR Bench: Kachurak, LeFlore, Nigro, Micaletto, Perez, Vivi, Henderlong
LDN: Bandre, Torres (Adnan, 90’), Erlandson, Mazzaferro (Young, 80’), Awuah, Murphy (Santos, 67’), Akinyode, Niyongabire (Souper, 46’), Aboukoura, Aman (Ordonez, 67’), Ulfarsson
LDN Bench: Herrera, Barrus, Adnan, Souper, Piras, Young, Ordonez, Santos
