North Carolina FC 2 – 0 New York Red Bulls II
Cary, NC—While North Carolina FC was looking to build momentum (and clinch a playoff spot) as the USL Championship regular season winds down New York Red Bulls II was trying to halt four-game winless skid. Against this backdrop, the two sides took to the field at Sahlen’s Stadium Saturday night.
The Red Bulls came out strong, pushing NCFC back and getting goalkeeper Alex Tambakis involved early in the game. But North Carolina pushed back in the fourth minute, causing New York to concede a corner kick and a handball, giving NCFC time to get comfortable in NYRB’s final third. Nearly six minutes in, Manny Perez pushed the ball into New York’s penalty area and worked his way around defender Preston Kilwien. Knowing he was beaten, Kilwien hauled Perez down in the penalty area. Referee Jon Freemon immediately pointed to the penalty spot and showed Kilwien the yellow card.
Manny Perez earned a penalty kick for North Carolina FC when he was taken down in the penalty area.
Donovan Ewolo was tapped to take the penalty for NCFC. New York goalkeeper Evan Louro made the diving save on Ewolo’s penalty kick but the ball rebounded straight back to the NCFC forward and he did not miss on his second shot and the Dead Whales had an early lead.
Ewolo would have to leave the game with an injury before the halftime break. He appeared to get tangled up with a Red Bulls defender in New York’s end of the field but play continued as the NCFC forward stayed down in considerable pain. Once play stopped, Ewolo was looked after by the training staff while Robert Kristo warmed up on the sidelines. After several minutes, Ewolo hobbled back onto the pitch to try to see out the first half but after a few steps, he sat back down and motioned for a substitute.
Even with the Red Bulls firing shots toward North Carolina’s net whenever they got within range, the home team held onto their 1-0 lead at halftime.
Forward Robert Kristo has been a difference-maker coming off of the bench for NCFC.
Just as he did in last week’s game against Ottawa, Kristo didn’t waste any time making an impact on the game for North Carolina. Right off of the halftime break he outjumped his defender and got his head on a well-placed corner kick from Graham Smith that required heroics from Louro to keep it out of the net.
But, in his current form, teams have a hard time keeping Kristo off of the scoresheet lately. And when North Carolina FC gets their combination plays working, they give opposing defenses fits. In the 50th minute, D.J. Taylor and Smith played the ball back and forth to each other near midfield, giving their offense a chance to reset. Taylor looked up and saw Nazmi Albadawi unmarked at the top of the 18-yard box and sent a perfectly paced pass right into Albadawi’s path. The NCFC midfielder took the ball to the end line and spotted Kristo coming in near post. He tapped the ball back to Kristo, who had virtually no angle on the net but found just enough daylight to get it past Louro.
North Carolina head coach Dave Sarachan had high praise for Kristo’s contributions coming off of the bench for his club. “Robbie, once again, came in and did a job by getting us a goal, but he also worked. He did a lot of defending work; that slide tackle he made at the very end of that game…I don’t think Robbie would have done that two months ago and I think Robbie now understands that it’s on both sides of the ball. It’s massive when you have guys that can come in and give you a spark like that.”
It’s important to point out here that the New York Red Bulls II have been hovering around the top of the table all season long, and for good reason. And also, something-something-two-goal-lead-is-the-most-dangerous… Suffice it to say, the last 40 minutes were not going to be easy for North Carolina, especially if they wanted to preserve the clean sheet.
New York Red Bulls 2 kept the pressure on North Carolina FC but couldn’t break through for a goal.
New York turned up the pressure and found seams to get the ball through the middle of the field for a look at goal. On the evening, they outshot North Carolina 25-14, but NCFC’s defense, anchored by Tambakis, was equal to the task.
The Red Bulls put sustained pressure on North Carolina as the clocked ticked past the 70th minute. After having a series of shots blocked out by the NCFC defense, New York regrouped near the center circle. Mathias Jorgenson got on the end of a pass out of midfield and took a touch to get into NCFC’s 18-yard box. He sent a ground ball cross over to Tom Barlow who got himself turned around under heavy pressure from NCFC’s Sam Brotherton. He opened some space and sent a hard left-footed shot toward the bottom left corner of the net. It was the first shot all night that beat Tambakis, but when you’re good, you get lucky and Barlow’s shot banged off of the goalpost and rolled toward the North Carolina keeper who pounced on the rebound.
The two sides battled out the final 20 minutes until Freemon blew the whistle to end the game. North Carolina FC earned all three points after a solid 90-minute effort from both teams. With the win, North Carolina clinched a playoff spot after just missing the post-season last year.
Red Bulls head coach John Wolyniec, though disappointed with the result, felt his team played well on the night. “Obviously a difficult result. I thought in a lot of ways we played pretty well, but most of that was between the boxes and in the boxes, North Carolina played us quite a bit. The plays that mattered, the plays that decide the game, we came up a little short.”
North Carolina FC head coach Dave Sarachan will take NCFC to the USL Championship playoffs in his first year with the club.
Sarachan was happy with NCFC’s performance against a tough opponent. “We played a very good team tonight. The New York Red Bulls had us on our heels a little bit and I give them a lot of credit, they’re a good team. But I give our team a lot of credit because I thought, obviously we get the first goal [and]we get in at halftime 1-0. Perhaps, a little fortunate that [New York] didn’t convert in the first half, I thought we started the second half quite well.”
“I’m very pleased with the commitment of our 11 guys to keep a clean sheet, he continued. “That was important tonight. It was a real, kind of a playoff-feel-type game, where one play could swing it one way or the other.”
With the playoff looming, Wolyniec is looking forward to seeing more consistency from his group, especially if they’ll be facing teams like North Carolina in the playoffs. “Unfortunately, at this point in the year, if you don’t put full efforts together, you end up wanting. And the table’s tight, so it gets interesting from here.”
Final Notes
- North Carolina FC held a halftime ceremony honoring club legends Kupono Low and Tiyi Shipalane.
- With the helper on Robert Kristo’s goal, Nazmi Albadawi earned his 23rd assist, tying Shipalane’s club record.
- In his post-game remarks, Albadawi talked about how much it meant to tie Shipalane’s record on the night the club recognized his two close friends. “Very much deserved recognition for [Shipalane] tonight—for him and Kupono. Two very close friends of mine, and two guys I’ve looked up to as players and now I’m fortunate to call very close friends of mine. The fact that I tied Tiyi’s all-time assist record tonight means a lot to me.”
- Next up for North Carolina FC is a huge road match at Nashville before they close out the regular season at home against St. Louis FC.
Lineups
North Carolina FC: A. Tambakis; A. Guillen ©, S. Brotherton, A. Comsia, DJ Taylor; G. Smith; B. Speas (S. Miller 65’), D. Fortune, N. Albadawi, M. Perez (Y. Chester 89’); D. Ewolo (R. Kristo 37’)
New York Red Bulls II: E. Louro; J. Tolkin (J. Loebe 73’), P. Kilwien, (A. Yanes 65’), J. Scarlett, R. Buckmaster; C. Lema ©, J. Koffi (B. Mines 81’), V. Bezecourt, J. Stroud; M. Jorgensen, T. Barlow
Score:
North Carolina FC: 2
New York Red Bulls II: 0
Goals:
NCFC: D. Ewolo (7’ unassisted); R. Kristo (50’ N. Albadawi)
New York Red Bulls II: none
Discipline
North Carolina FC: none
New York Red Bulls II: P. Kilwien, YC, 7’; J. Scarlett, YC, 87’
Attendance: 4,293
Photo gallery: North Carolina FC v New York Red Bulls 2
All photos by Victoria Klum
