PORTLAND, Ore. – In Week 27 of the USL Championship season, T2 fell 2-1 to Orange County SC at Providence Park on Sunday afternoon. Foster Langsdorf scored his seventh goal of 2019, while Gio Calixtro tallied his second assist of the season.
Key plays
In the 29th minute, Ryan Sierakowski dribbled down the right flank and delivered a cross to the left side of the box to Cristian Ojeda, whose header fell to Brayan Hurtado but his bicycle-kick attempt missed to the right of the post. Three minutes later, Nathan Smith’s cross from the left wing found Hurtado, whose headed attempt from close range missed the target.
Orange County SC took a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute after Michael Seaton received a low cross outside the six-yard box and finished into the far corner of the net.
Orange County doubled its advantage to 2-0 in the 54th minute after Darwin Jones tapped in Seaton’s pass at the far post.
Portland cut into Orange County’s lead in the 59th minute when Nathan Smith delivered a low cross to the back post to Ojeda, whose shot forced Orange County goalkeeper Frederick Due to parry it off the line. The ensuing rebound fell to Calixtro, whose shot from the left side of the box was flicked in by Langsdorf at the far post to make it 2-1. With seven goals scored in USL Championship play, Langsdorf shares the team lead.
Continuing on the attack, Smith took a shot from distance that just missed over the crossbar in the 64th minute. Two minutes later, Smith’s cross from the right wing found Langsdorf inside the box, but his header missed over the top right corner.
T2 nearly tied the match in the 84th minute after Ojeda’s free-kick attempt just outside the 18-yard box was tipped over the bar by Due.
Next game
Next up, T2 will travel to face Real Monarchs SLC at Zions Bank Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14. Beginning at 12 noon (Pacific), the match against Real Monarchs will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Postgame Quote Sheet
T2 head coach Cameron Knowles
General thoughts on the match…
“I mean we put ourselves in a difficult position again. We’ve been behind and we’ve talked about it a lot too many times. While we put in a very valiant attempt to come back into the game and we created a number of chances in that second half, it was always going to be an uphill battle.”
On the team’s second-half performance...
“We were a bit more aggressive on the ball and we were a bit more aggressive in our defending; I think that both those things contributed to more chances. Foster [Langsdorf] brought a lot of energy and helped us in that as well. So, second half was better for sure, but a couple moments I think we can be a little more clinical.”
On what he expects from the group in the coming matches...
“We have got to bounce back; there is no other option. And the points now are at a premium. The table is still very tight but we’re on the outside looking in. We are going to go into a difficult place to play against a team that’s had a really good stretch this latter part of the season, so it’s going to be a difficult game for us.”
T2 (9-10-8, 35pts) vs. Orange County SC (10-8-9, 39pts)
Sept. 8, 2019 – Providence Park (Portland, Ore.)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
T2 0 1 1
Orange County SC 1 1 2
Scoring Summary:
OC: Seaton (Jones), 35
OC: Jones (Seaton), 54
POR: Langsdorf (Calixtro), 59
Misconduct Summary:
OC: Quinn (caution), 73
OC: Hume (caution), 77
OC: Seaton, (caution), 89
POR: Diz Pe (caution), 90+1
OC: Duke (caution), 90+3
Lineups:
POR: GK Leeker, D Hanson (Sanchez, 45), D Diz Pe, D Ornstil, D Smith, M Sierakowski, M Wharton ©, M Anguiano, M Ojeda, F Calixtro (Kobayashi, 85), F Hurtado (Langsdorf, 45)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Lyon, D Farfan
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Ojeda, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Ojeda, 2); FOULS: 9 (Diz Pe, 3); OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 5
OC: GK Due, D Amico, D Orozco ©, D Hume, D Arellano, M Duke, M Quinn, M Forrester (Crisostomo, 79), F van Ewijk (Ramos Godoy, 69), F Jones, F Seaton (Vinicius, 90+2)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Lopez, M Alvarado, F Coleman
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Forrester, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Forrester, 4); FOULS: 16 (van Ewijk, Seaton, 3); OFFSIDES: 5; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 2
Referee: Malik Badawi
Assistant Referees: Christian Clerc, Andrew Marihart
4th Official: Wilson Munoz
Attendance: 1,914
Weather: Rainy, 69 degrees
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
