Orlando City B Loses Home-opener to Louisville in Front of Record Crowd

Through two matches, Orlando City B has still not scored a goal.

By
Victor Tan
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Orlando City B midfielder Austin Martz, left, crosses the ball during a 3-1 loss to Louisville City FC at Orlando City Stadium on Thursday, March 30, 2017. (Photo by Adrian Hernandez / Orlando Soccer Journal)

Match Recap

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando City B head coach Anthony Pulis battled to a loss against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in a season-opening match on March 25. Heading into his team’s second match of the season and its home-opener, Pulis knew that the bout with Louisville City FC would be an even more difficult match. That proved to be the case when OCB (0-2-0, 0 points) lost 3-1 to Louisville (1-1-0, 3 points) Thursday night at Orlando City Stadium in front of an OCB record crowd of 2,741.

“Disappointed. I thought defensively we were, what I would call, too much on the back foot tonight,” Pulis said after the match. “We talk a lot about being on the front foot defensively and trying to get after teams, and that wasn’t the case tonight unfortunately. Whether that was a little bit of fatigue, I don’t know. Worrying, to be honest, at this stage in the season. Probably a mindset thing.”

Louisville broke the 1-1 halftime tie in the 57th minute. Richard Ballard found a way to penetrate deep into OCB’s box on the right side where he was met by a folly challenge by defender Zach Carroll. After the ball bounced off Carroll’s foot on the attempted clear, George Davis IV was there to ground the one-timer between OCB goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr.’s legs for a 2-1 lead.

Luke Spencer capped the match’s scoring with a 76th minute when he ran in behind OCB’s back-line for another nutmeg on Edwards.

“I don’t think you can defend the way we defended tonight and expect to win football matches at any level, to be honest,” Pulis said. “And that’s something that we’re obviously gonna have to address.”

OCB got on the scoreboard 42nd minute when Tarek Morad tried to clear the ball but instead knocked into his own net. The cross that led to the own goal was sent in by midfielder Austin Martz.

“I think you’ve seen with Austin how dynamic he is,” Pulis said. “And he obviously caught our eye last year when he was at Wilmington. Really, really quick. Presses well. He’s a threat for the opposition’s back-line because of how dynamic he is. I think the thing that we need to get into Austin is his kind of understanding and positioning at times ‘cus he has to understand that the opposition that he’s coming up against are gonna probably gonna drop a little bit deeper to protect that space behind them.

“He’s a kid that’s got potential, and we’re happy to have him here.”

Man of the Match: George Davis IV

Davis finished with an assist and a goal in his team’s first win of the season. Both of his shot attempts were on target, including the go-ahead goal in the 57th minute.

What’s next?

OCB hosts Toronto FC II on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Highlights

NDR Notes

  • Through two matches so far this season, OCB has yet to score a goal.
  • In his team’s second match of the season, Pulis started seven non-MLS players. In the season-opening match against the Rowdies, his squad started eight of the nine player sent on season-long loans.
  • Against Tampa Bay, OCB opened the match in a 4-2-3-1 formation. In Thursday’s loss, OCB started in a 4-2-2, similar to what the club’s MLS side uses.

Scoring

Time Team Goal-scorer Assisted by
11’ Louisville City FC Cameron Lancaster George Davis IV
42’ Louisville City FC Tarek Morad OWN GOAL
57’ Louisville City FC George Davis IV Richard Ballard
76’ Louisville City FC Luke Spencer Niall McCabe

Statistics and Starting Lineups

  Goals Assists Shots Shots on Goal Possession %
Orlando City B 1 0 10 2 50.9%
Louisville City FC 3 2 17 8 49.1%

Orlando City B starting XI (4-2-2): Earl Edwards Jr. (GK); Léo Pereira, Zach Carroll, Conor Donovan, Kevin Alston; Pierre da Silva, Lewis Neal (C), Ryley Kraft, Austin Martz; Michael Cox, Ben Polk

Louisville City starting XI (4-2-3-1): Tim Dobrowolski (GK); Tarek Morad, Sean Totsch, Oscar Jimenez, Kyle Smith; George Davis IV, Richard Ballard; Paolo Del Piccolo (C), Brian Ownby, Speedy Williams; Cameron Lancaster

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