Written by: Will Ogburn/ The SkyBoat
Kissimmee - Every streak has both a beginning and an end. For Orlando City, Saturday’s game against the Charleston Eagles was about looking past their loss on Sunday and starting a fresh streak in front of a sold out home crowd. A win would send OCSC to their fourth straight playoff appearance. That task was no small one, as the Eagles were fresh off of two wins.
The first half lived mainly on Charleston’s side of the pitch, as the shots favored Orlando 7-1. Though the Lions controlled the tempo of the game, superb goalkeeping by Charleston’s Kahn, some timely defending by the back line, and a bit of luck kept Orlando scoreless during the first forty five. The closest the Lions got to scoring was a low bullet of a shot from Dennis Chin in the 43rd minute that Khan sent back with a sliding left foot. During the first minute of stoppage time, however, Chin swept in to clean up Kevin Molino's shot and found the back of the net for the first score of the night. That would be the first of many to come.
The Lions’ soared into the second half with the momentum of Chin’s goal giving them strength. In only the 47th minute, Tyler Turner set the tone for the rest of the game by banging home a header. This was the seventeen year old defender’s first goal of the season, and nearly netted him Man of the Match honors. “Words wouldn't even do it justice. It was a dream come true…an unreal experience, I can’t wait to score another one.” Things went from bad to worse for the away team when Charleston defender Juan Guzman brought down Cobi Span in the box to stop a scoring chance. This infraction not only drew a red card, forcing the Eagles to play without Guzman, but also set up Molino for City’s third goal off the ensuing penalty kick. Suddenly, the Lions had scored two goals in the first six minutes of the second half and a tight game was quickly turning into a blowout. That didn’t stop Molino from adding another score in the 59th minute to punctuate the win. By the time Wells Thompson scored for Charlotte, it was against a host of Orlando City’s subs.
When all was said and done, Orlando had secured a playoff spot, remained perfect against Charlotte all-time, and maintained its USL points lead over Richmond. Coach Adrian Heath seemed optimistic about the win, but stressed the importance of finishing strong. "We’ve still got nine games left. We’ll probably have to win six of them to win the league,” said Coach Heath, "We’ve still got a long road ahead of us.” The next step in that road ahead will come this Wednesday away from home against the Harrisburg City Islanders.