The Tampa Bay Rowdies suffered their first road loss of the USL Championship season on Saturday night, narrowly falling 1-0 to Detroit City FC at Keyworth Stadium.
“We should have come away with at least a point, but we switched off in a couple of key moments in the first half when (Detroit) got down on our right-hand side,” said Rowdies Head Coach Dominic Casciato. “That ended up being the difference in the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take the chances that we created late on in the game.
Detroit threatened the goal early in the match when attacker Jeciel Cedeño guided a strike from the center of the box toward net, but Rowdies Defender Charlie Ostrem was in position to head the attempt out of danger before it reached the goal.
The hosts found their breakthrough moment in the 36th minute. The scoring sequences started with Detroit’s Ates Diouf chesting the ball down on the left edge of Tampa Bay’s box. Diouf and Rowdies Defender Ethan Bartlow both charged toward the ball in the box. Bartlow managed to get the first touch, but his clearance bounced off Diouf and back toward Tampa Bay’s goal. Diouf took the loose ball and sent a strike that snuck in past Rowdies Goalkeeper Jahmali Waite at the far post. The deflection that set Diouf up for his shot may have come off the attacker’s arm, as indicated by the protestations from the Rowdies defensive line, but the goal counted nonetheless.
Forward Russell Cicerone earned Tampa Bay’s first shot on goal of the night in the 84th minute. Teammate Dion Acoff set Cicerone up for the chance with a driven cross from the right corner. Cicerone connected on the cross with a headed effort that forced goalkeeper Carlos Herrera to make a save.
Substitute Karsen Henderlong had the Rowdies most promising chance of the evening as the final whistle neared in stoppage time. Looking to find a late equalizer, Ostrem dribbled into Detroit’s box and delivered a pass to Henderlong in front of goal. Henderlong did well to direct his shot on target, but Herrera denied him with a stellar diving save at the last second.
“Obviously Detroit can be a tough place to play,” said Casciato. “…We’ve got a great opportunity to put this right next week because Pittsburgh is in a similar environment. We talk about learning from every experience, whether good or bad. The experience we need to learn from tonight is being ready to play in an environment like this so we can take three points in Pittsburgh.”
Next up, the Rowdies travel to face Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday, August 29 at 5 p.m. ET.
Scoring Summary
DET – Diouf, 36’
Caution Summary
DET – Yamazaki (Yellow Card), 20
DET – Diouf (Yellow Card), 45+2’
TBR – Dossantos (Yellow Card), 45+4’
DET – Hernandez-Foster (Yellow Card), 56’
TBR – Ostrem (Yellow Card), 58’
Stats Summary
Shots: 6 / 6
Shots on Goal: 2 / 2
Saves: 1 / 2
Corner Kicks: 4 / 3
Fouls Conceded: 17 / 14
Offside: 1 / 4
Possession: 56.4 / 43.6
Lineups
TBR: Waite, Bartlow, Schneider, Dossantos, Antley (Acoff, 46’), Ostrem, Dolabella (Henderlong, 60’), Hilton (Wyke, 69’), Perez (Micaletto, 60’), Cicerone, Myers
TBR Bench: Pack, Acoff, Nigro, Wyke, Micaletto, Conway, Henderlong
DET: Herrera, Yamazaki, Moo-Mensah, Montgomery, Stanley, Hernandez-Foster (Williams, 73’), Cedeno (Hope-Gund, 88’), Rodriguez, Diop, Diouf (Williams, 78’), Smith (Egbuchunam, 77’)
DET Bench: Saldana, Hope-Gund, Silva, Williams, Dalou, Egbuchunam, Williams
