THE VILLAGES, Fla. (July 5, 2017) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies U23’s, after dropping three consecutive matches, finally got back in the plus category with a 2-2 draw against The Villages SC on Wednesday evening.
After a grueling run of games for the U23’s, coming out of The Villages with a point is certainly a nice turn of fortune for the squad.
Today’s match was critical for The Villages as they need to essentially win out their final four games of the season to have any chance at taking home a Southeast Division title this season.
To start out the match, this desperation was clear on The Villages side. Through the majority of the first half, The Villages were controlling the ball well and throwing a number of strong chances on net.
These chances, however, were thwarted by an incredible effort on behalf of keeper Sean Caufield and a strong backline including Pico Espinal and Gabriel Pfeffer. Caufield came up especially big in the 34th minute with a one-on-one stop on an attacking Villages player.
The strength and resilience of the backline ended up benefiting the team as Kendan Anderson put away the first goal of the game on a through ball from Tosan Popo that he finished beautifully.
It seemed as if the Rowdies would take this one goal lead into the half but The Villages crushed that dream when Augusto Maciel scored on a beautiful strike from distance to even the game up.
Coming out of the half, The Villages again were heavy on the attack sending more chances Caufield’s way.
In the 54th minute, however, this aggressiveness cost The Villages, and the Rowdies, as Alcides Thomas fouled Gonzalo Rodriguez hard from behind and took a yellow card for the challenge. Rodriguez came up clearly gimpy from the play and would be subbed off the field about ten minutes later.
All the aggressiveness wasn’t completely wasted by The Villages as they scored a go-ahead goal in the 61st minute when Willian Hopfner headed the ball in front off a Danilo Dias cross.
It seemed like the Rowdies would once again spend a hard second half fighting up hill against the home squad but that was not to be. In the 65th minute Gabriel Pfeffer came up with his third goal in the past two games with yet another header off a corner kick by Kevin Varela to knot the game at two goals.
From there it seemed like The Villages were on an unwavering mission to score a game winning goal. Through the final twenty-plus minutes, the pace of play, possession, and momentum seemed to rest on The Villages’ side.
This attack forced Caufield to once more hold down the fort with everything he had. The Villages attackers did just about everything they could to test the Tampa Bay keeper but couldn’t seem to find the net despite a flurry of incredible opportunities.
No chance was better for The Villages than in the 74th minute when the freshly subbed Christopher Wilkinson had a chance to knock in a ball on a seemingly open net but Caufield dove against his momentum to stop the potential game winning goal.
Although The Villages were pressing hard on the Rowdies defense, Tampa Bay also came up with a few strong chances of their own.
No opportunity was better than Caleb George’s one-on-one chance on net in stoppage time. Though he sent a strong ground ball on net, The Villages’ keeper McGlinn stretched out his right leg and made a game saving play for the home team.
Despite a few more good chances for the hosts, the final whistle blew and the Rowdies walked off the field with points once more.
For The Villages, the draw likely crushes any chances they have at making a run on FC Miami City, SIMA Aguilas, and the Lakeland Tropics at the top of the Southeast Division. Though they finish their season with three more home games, including matches against Miami and SIMA, a comeback is almost impossible.
From here, Tampa Bay has at least three more games remaining, with a potential fourth if the Lakeland game is re-scheduled, against SIMA, IMG, and Miami meaning it will be a tough stretch to close the PDL season. The Rowdies will be back in action Saturday night at home to take on SIMA.
Scoring Summary
Tampa Bay: Kendan Anderson – 42nd Minute (Assisted by Tosan Popo)
The Villages: Augusto Maciel – 45th Minute
The Villages: Willian Hopfner – 61st Minute (Assisted by Danilo Dias)
Tampa Bay: Gabriel Pfeffer – 65th Minute (Assisted by Kevin Varela)
Caution Summary
The Villages: Alcides Thomas – 54th Minute
Tampa Bay: Kevin Varela – 76th Minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies U23 XI (4-1-4-1): GK Sean Caufield; D Preston Kilwien, Gabriel Pfeffer, Gustavo Fernandes, Pico Espinal; CDM Gonzalo Rodriguez (Gabriel Fernandes 66′); M Daniel Ribas (Caleb George 87′), Kevin Varela (Morgan Shepherd 88′), Tosan Popo, Noah Franke; F Kendan Anderson
The Villages SC (4-4-2): GK Timothy McGlinn; D Danilo Dias (Paulo Souza 90′), Yago Lopes, Jackie Kay, Gabriel Torres; M Wesley Pereira (Fernando Angolo Filho 54′), Alcides Thomas, Roberto DeLima, William Hopfner (Kyle Nelson 64′); F Matthieu LeRoux (Christopher Wilkinson 74′), Augusto Maciel
