KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Playing the first of two road matches in five days, T2 fell 1-0 to Swope Park Rangers at Children’s Mercy Victory Field on Wednesday night.
Early in the first half, T2 (0-2-0, 0pts) nearly took the lead when midfielder Blake Bodily whipped in a driven cross that found forward Augustine Williams inside the 18-yard box. Williams took a touch and fired a right-footed shot that was palmed away by Swope Park goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas in the 14th minute.
Swope Park Rangers (2-0-0, 6pts) took the lead when forward Kharlton Belmar got on the end of a cross and finished from inside the six-yard box in the 15th minute. Searching for an equalizer, T2 nearly leveled in the 17th minute when midfielder Neco Brett’s shot from outside of the box was saved by Zendejas. In the 33rd minute, midfielder Tomás Granitto’s shot from the right edge of the penalty area in a free kick situation was punched away by Zendejas for a T2 corner kick.
Continuing to apply pressure at the start of the second half, defender Rennico Clarke got on the end of Granitto’s cross from a set-piece play and his acrobatic shot from inside the penalty area was caught by Zendejas. T2’s best chance in the second half came from Bodily, who picked up the ball from the T2 half of the field and avoided a number of Swope Park defenders, firing his shot wide of the net from the top of the box in the 72nd minute.
Goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh, on loan from the Portland Timbers, recorded a season-high six saves for T2.
Next up, T2 will travel to Seattle to face Cascadia-rival Seattle Sounders FC 2 on Sunday, April 2; kickoff is set for 2 p.m. (Pacific) at Starfire Stadium.
Sunday’s match will also be available via a live, high-definition web stream at www.timbers2.com.
Postgame Quote Sheet
T2 head coach Andrew Gregor
On his team’s performance tonight…
“In the first half, I think we created some opportunities and had chances to score goals. We just didn’t manage things correctly defensively, and that caused us problems. We were able to get those problems rectified in the second half and it showed. We had some really good spells in the second half, but it was an unfortunate result at the end of the day.”
On goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh’s six-save performance…
“I think he got up to speed today. In the first half, especially having to make saves, he did very well tonight. Kendall has athletic abilities, and you got to see a little bit of that tonight on some of his saves that he made. He kept us in the game, for sure in the first half, and he made some nice saves in the second half to keep us close.
On what the team can build on this game for Sunday’s match at Seattle Sounders FC 2…
“I think we just need to continue to get better. It was better than the first game, and we need to get better each game. In some ways, having three games in such a short week will get us up to speed pretty quickly. There were times today where it was a lot better than last Saturday’s match. We’re making progress.”
T2 (0-2-0, 0pts) vs. Swope Park Rangers (2-0-0, 6pts)
March 29, 2017 – Children’s Mercy Victory Field (Kansas City, Mo.)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
T2 0 0 0
Swope Park Rangers 1 0 1
Scoring Summary
SPR: Belmar (Selbol), 15
Misconduct Summary
POR: Jimenez (Caution), 22
SPR: Moloto (Caution), 29
SPR: Belmar (Caution), 54
POR: Clarke (Caution), 73
Lineups & Stats
POR: GK McIntosh, D Jimenez, D Clarke ©, D Batista, D Bjornethun, M Granitto (Damraoui, 83), M Lewis, M Brett (Cicerone, 85), M Bijev, M Bodily (Mohamed, 76), F Williams
Substitutes Not Used: GK Hamilton, D Amick, D Hanson, D Ornstil
TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Clarke, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Three players tied, 1); FOULS: 15 (Bijev, Brett, 3); OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 6
SPR: GK Zendejas, D Storm, D Pasher (Maher, 65), D Palmer-Brown (Barnathan, 46), D Musa, M Fernandez, M Wan Kamal, M Duke ©, F Selbol, F Moloto (Rugova, 61), F Belmar
Substitutes Not Used: GK Greczek, D Ballo, D Doyle, M Little
TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Selbol, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Selbol, 3); FOULS: 13 (Belmar, 5); OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 3
Referee: Nima Saghafi
Assistant Referees: Shane Kennard, Devin Blazek
4th Official: Spenser Scopel
Attendance: 572
Weather: Showers, 59 degrees
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial.
