ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies Prinx Tires USL Cup run came to an end on Wednesday night at Al Lang Stadium as the club fell 5-3 in penalties in their Quarterfinals matchup with Louisville City FC.
Tampa Bay held the visitors from registering a shot on goal through 90 minutes of play but failed to find the back of the net with their three shots on frame in the match. With neither side able to tally a goal in either half, the match went straight to penalties to determine a winner.
“I’m proud of the guys for their efforts,” said Rowdies Head Coach Dominic Casciato. …Anyone can win in a shootout. I feel for the guys, but I’m proud of them and we’ll be stronger for this.”
Rowdies Midfielder Sebastain Cruz had the most promising chance in the opening 45 minutes. Teammate Russell Cicerone played Cruz into the final third with a backheeled pass in the 31st minute, slipping Cruz in behind the back line for a strike on frame that was parried away by Louisville Goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux.
Midfielders Marco Micaletto and Pedro Dolabella had looked for goal themselves with two attempts in the second half, Micaletto from inside the box and Dolabella from long-range. Fauroux was able to comfortably handle both efforts, though.
“I think that every game in a cup competition is a final,” said Casciato. “I think both teams come out and have a little bit tentativeness about them because you don’t want to lose a game like this. I think you saw that. We had a really big chance in the first half and the keeper makes a great save. Credit to him for that. If that goes in, the game starts to open up and maybe we go and get another goal or two. But that didn’t happen. Cup competitions tend to be like this when you have two good teams going against each other.”
The Rowdies were forced to close out the match down a man due to an injury suffered by Cruz with no substitutions remaining as the 90th minute neared. Louisville ramped up the pressure in the dying moments in an effort to exploit the advantage, winner corner kick after corner kick, but Tampa Bay’s defensive line held in the face of the late surge.
“I’m sure when we reflect on it there will be some positives to take,” said Rowdies Captain Lewis Hilton. “I think the last 15, 20 minutes we dug in when we were down to ten men there. Lot of positives there with the boys digging in like I knew they would, but right now it’s just disappointment that we’re out of this cup.”
Defender Seasn Totsch stepped up and converted the first penalty in the shootout to set the stage for Louisville’s victory. Dolabella and Max Schneider converted Tampa Bay’s first two penalty attempts, but Fauroux was able to produce a diving save to deny defender Gennaro Nigro on the Rowdies third attempt. The stop proved decisive as the visitors successfully converted on all five of their penalties to secure the win and advance to the Semifinals of the tournament.
Next up, the Rowdies return to league play this Saturday at Al Lang Stadium as they host Rhode Island FC. The match is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the Rowdies aiming to maintain their hold on the top spot in the Eastern Conference and in the hunt for the USL Championship Players’ Shield.
“We wanted to advance in the cup,” said Casciato. “We wanted to go on and win this competition, but now we can’t. So, it allows us to narrow our focus a little bit and be super focused on the league and finish strong going into the playoffs. Look, we’ll learn from (tonight). We’ll brush ourselves off and get over it quickly and be ready for Rhode Island on Saturday.”
Penalty Shootout
TBR: Dolabella (converted), Schneider (converted), Nigro (saved), Hilton (converted)
LOU: Totsch (converted), Donovan (converted), E. Davila (converted), Huerman (converted), T. Davila (converted)
Caution Summary
LOU – T. Davila (Yellow Card), 20’
TBR – Wyke (Yellow Card), 51’
LOU – Wilson (59’)
LOU – E. Davila (81’)
Stats Summary: TBR / LOU
Shots: 13 / 8
Shots on Goal: 3 / 0
Saves: 0 / 3
Corner Kicks: 7 / 6
Fouls Conceded: 7 / 7
Offside: 0 / 3
Possession: 44.7 / 55.3
Lineups
TBR: Waite, Wyke (Nigro, 71’), Schneider, Dossantos, Antley (Micaletto, 46’), Hilton, Cruz, Ostrem, Perez (Dolabell, 46’), Cicerone (Conway, 80’), Myers (Henderlong, 71’)
TBR Bench: Pack, Bartlow, Nigro, Rodriguez, Dolabella, Miclaetto, Conway, Henderlong
LOU: Fauroux, Perez (Gleadle, 82’), McFadden, Totsch, Adams, Morris (Dia, 69’), Akale (Huerman, 80’), Duncan (E. Davila, 69’), T. Davila, Wilson (Serrano, 69’), Donovan
LOU Bench: Faundez, Dia, E. Davila. Huerman, Showunmi, Gleadle, Serrano
