During the first half, New England player Scott Caldwell received a yellow card for a foul against Orlando City in the 18th minute. Revolution forward, Kei Kamara then played strongly by blocking off shots from the Lions until finally scoring the first goal of the day in the 20th minute.
Despite the early goal from New England, Orlando City was leading the shots at the half with 4, 2 coming from Kaka and Cyle Larin. The Lions also dominated possession of the ball in the first half 60-40, which rolled over into the second half as Orlando City’s magic ignited.
Orlando City made a halftime substitution by bringing in Brek Shea in replacement of Hadji Barry in an effort to provide a spark. The efforts paid off as seconds into the second half Cyle Larin put in the equalizer coming off an assist from Kevin Molino.
Shortly after New England made their first substitution of the match. Orlando City then notched their second goal as Kevin Molino connected on a header from a chip sent in by Brek Shea to give the Lions a 2-1 lead in the 64th minute.
In the 79th minute, Cristian Higuita was subbed on and just a minute later was awarded a yellow card for a foul. However, the card did not hurt Orlando’s moral in any way, as Kevin Molino went to work again, this time putting in a goal off an assist from Kaka and Luke Boden to all but seal the game for the Lions at 3-1.
Kreis enjoyed his first match with the team throughout even when the team was trailing. “I made it a point to myself to really enjoy tonight regardless of the result. Even when we were down 1-0 I was still enjoying myself because I was seeing some of the things we're talking about in training sessions happening in the game. It wasn't quite as clean as I would like but we weren't doing the right thing and that led to the goal against us. It’s really rewarding as a coach to be working on something and having a lot of energy to convey that message to the players, to see it start to take shape in the game. It’s very rewarding - I know there's still a lot of work to be done, and it could be much better.”
The Lions finished the match with a dominating 16-9 shot performance, along with completing 100 more passes than New England. It was a great start to the new chapter in Orlando City’s young history.
Only time will tell if the Lions will continue to perform this way under their new head coach. Their next test comes on August 7th against the Seattle Sounders at Camping World Stadium in Orlando with a 7:00 P.M ET Kickoff.