Story By: Will Ogburn
Orlando - When the Rowdies come to town, there’s an extra serving of hate in the Cheerios of the Orlando City faithful.
On Wednesday, The Iron Lion Firm (Orlando City’s cheering section) seemed to move the decibel meter even more than usual during City’s 4-1 domination of their I-4 rivals.
The game started off even keel with both sides exchanging shots early. At 3' Tampa Bay’s Lucky Mkosana made an early break to the goal with blazing speed, but was stopped easily by the hands of Gallardo. On the next Rowdies advance, Brad Rusin - the Lions resident skyscraper, made his presence felt when he diverted a shot at the last moment to keep the game scoreless at 8’. On the other end, the Lions had been chipping away slowly at the Rowdies’ resolve. A shot would go wide, or get rejected just in the nick of time. All of that changed in the 11th minute when Kevin Molino received a beautiful pass from Tyler Turner, lined it up in stride, and kissed it off of his cranium for the first goal of the evening. Corner after corner, shot after shot, the pressure began to mount. In Coach Adrian Heath’s own words “Our possession football and our counter-attacking football was from the highest echelons of football.” The Lions domination of these two areas lead to the Rowdies being on the defensive side of the pitch for most of the first half. At 20’, Tampa Bay’s keeper Cody Mizell dove for a save, but couldn’t stop the second try as Austin Da Luz banged home the second goal for City.
Shortly after, Adama Mbengue got his share of the action. After Molino’s shot hit the keeper at 22’, Mbengue took a pass from Boden straight to the back of the net. As he buried the shot, City buried Tampa in a 3-0 deficit. With the offense coming in waves, there was another on the horizon. In the 41st minute, Molino flew down the field, dodging defenders before scoring his second goal of the night. As regulation time was called, the Rowdies were looking at a 4-0 shortage. To their credit, they didn’t give up. Blake Wagner scored their only goal in the stoppage time, capping off the explosive half with five goals scored total.
During the second half, Orlando started clean-up duty. They played conservative, even allowing Tampa Bay to string together several positive possessions. All of the tranquility was broken at 85’ when a fight broke out between Rowdies midfielder, Shane Hill, and Corey Hertzog of the Lions. A red card went to Hill, a yellow to Hertzog, and the match simmered down to a final score the same as its halftime score, 4-1. On the scoring outburst, Coach Heath seemed unfazed. "I didn’t see the four goals coming,” he said, "but I know that when we play like we can we’re difficult to stop.” This win means that the Lions will advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, next playing in that when they travel to Colorado on June 17th. As for their immediate schedule, Orlando City will take on Charlotte Battery at the Wide World of Sports Complex on May 31, at 7:30.
On Wednesday, The Iron Lion Firm (Orlando City’s cheering section) seemed to move the decibel meter even more than usual during City’s 4-1 domination of their I-4 rivals.
The game started off even keel with both sides exchanging shots early. At 3' Tampa Bay’s Lucky Mkosana made an early break to the goal with blazing speed, but was stopped easily by the hands of Gallardo. On the next Rowdies advance, Brad Rusin - the Lions resident skyscraper, made his presence felt when he diverted a shot at the last moment to keep the game scoreless at 8’. On the other end, the Lions had been chipping away slowly at the Rowdies’ resolve. A shot would go wide, or get rejected just in the nick of time. All of that changed in the 11th minute when Kevin Molino received a beautiful pass from Tyler Turner, lined it up in stride, and kissed it off of his cranium for the first goal of the evening. Corner after corner, shot after shot, the pressure began to mount. In Coach Adrian Heath’s own words “Our possession football and our counter-attacking football was from the highest echelons of football.” The Lions domination of these two areas lead to the Rowdies being on the defensive side of the pitch for most of the first half. At 20’, Tampa Bay’s keeper Cody Mizell dove for a save, but couldn’t stop the second try as Austin Da Luz banged home the second goal for City.
Shortly after, Adama Mbengue got his share of the action. After Molino’s shot hit the keeper at 22’, Mbengue took a pass from Boden straight to the back of the net. As he buried the shot, City buried Tampa in a 3-0 deficit. With the offense coming in waves, there was another on the horizon. In the 41st minute, Molino flew down the field, dodging defenders before scoring his second goal of the night. As regulation time was called, the Rowdies were looking at a 4-0 shortage. To their credit, they didn’t give up. Blake Wagner scored their only goal in the stoppage time, capping off the explosive half with five goals scored total.
During the second half, Orlando started clean-up duty. They played conservative, even allowing Tampa Bay to string together several positive possessions. All of the tranquility was broken at 85’ when a fight broke out between Rowdies midfielder, Shane Hill, and Corey Hertzog of the Lions. A red card went to Hill, a yellow to Hertzog, and the match simmered down to a final score the same as its halftime score, 4-1. On the scoring outburst, Coach Heath seemed unfazed. "I didn’t see the four goals coming,” he said, "but I know that when we play like we can we’re difficult to stop.” This win means that the Lions will advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, next playing in that when they travel to Colorado on June 17th. As for their immediate schedule, Orlando City will take on Charlotte Battery at the Wide World of Sports Complex on May 31, at 7:30.