SANDY, Utah – Playing the second of three matches in seven days, T2 were unable to overcome a late second-half own goal, falling 2-1 to Real Monarchs SLC at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night. Midfielder Blake Bodily scored his third goal in his seventh start of the season for T2, who saw their two-game winning streak and three-match unbeaten run end with the loss.
In the 13th minute, Real Monarchs SLC (8-11-5, 29pts) took an early 1-0 lead when midfielder Maikon Orellana pounced on a loose pass inside the box and placed his shot into the back of the net.
Outshooting Real Monarchs 7-2 in the second half, T2 (7-12-4, 25pts) threatened in the 67th minute when forward Augustine Williams fired a shot from inside the box that was saved by Real Monarchs goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, who finished the match with five saves. Portland tied the game in the 70th minute when midfielder Villyan Bijev sent a long pass that released Bodily into space on the left side of the 18-yard box and he placed his left-footed shot past Attinella into the back of the net.
Real Monarchs took a 2-1 lead from a corner kick in the 86th minute when a header inside the six-yard box deflected off of a T2 defender and into the goal.
T2 threatened early in the first half in the 25th minute when midfielder Victor Arboleda cut in from the right wing, taking on a number of Real Monarch defenders. After beating the final defender, Arboleda fired a left-footed shot from inside the box that was saved by Attinella, who finished the match with five saves. Four minutes earlier, midfielder Andre Lewis played in a ball behind the Real Monarchs defense that found the feet of Bijev, who’s right-footed shot from inside the 18-yard box went wide of the target in the 21st minute.
Next up, T2 will travel to play Sacramento Republic FC at Bonney Field on Saturday, Aug. 20; kickoff is set for 8 p.m. (Pacific). The Aug. 20 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 overall thoughts on the match…
“I thought it was a tale of two halves. We didn’t start very well. We got punished for a mistake. We started to play a little bit better and then into the second half I thought we did a good job. We created some chances and started to play how we normally play, but there were some opportunities tonight that we didn’t capitalize on.”
On midfielder Blake Bodily’s third goal of the season…
“I thought that was a part of the game where we were really kind of having a good run of the game. The ball came in and [Villyan] Bijev did a good job to flip it around the corner and Blake was in a good spot. He showed good composure kicking it into goal. Goals change games and we were in a good spot there. We were a little bit unfortunate to give up the own goal at the end.”
On the positives he can take away from the match heading into Saturday’s match…
“I think it’s a good learning lesson. From playing away from home, you’ve got to travel the short week. We’re learning how to manage playing yourself into a game and the mental discipline that takes. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer to get into the game and it took a while tonight, but once we got there we were in a good spot. We’ve got to take that into Saturday and be aware that potentially it might take us a bit to get into the game and we have to believe that it’s going to happen and make sure we take care of the little things, be disciplined, wait for our time and make sure when we get our chances that we punish teams.”
T2 (7-12-4, 25pts) vs. Real Monarchs SLC (8-11-5, 29pts)
Aug. 17, 2016 – Rio Tinto Stadium (Sandy, Utah)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
T2 0 1 1
Real Monarchs SLC 1 1 2
Scoring Summary
SLC: Orellana (unassisted), 13
POR: Bodily (Bijev), 70
SLC: Own Goal, 86
Misconduct Summary
SLC: Orazco (Caution), 47
SLC: Velazco (Caution), 79
Lineups & Stats
POR: GK Hamilton, D Richards, D Clarke ©, D Gallagher, D Thoma (Morley, 46), M Lewis (Besler, 46), M Damraoui (Casiple, 46), M Arboleda (Brett, 77), M Bijev, M Bodily, F Williams, (Belmar, 83)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Luthy, F Polk
TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
SLC: GK Attinella, D Arnone, D Orozco, D Kavita, D Lachowecki, M Amankona (Baez, 82), M Sundly (Moberg, 76), M Orellana (Caparelli, 70), M Brody, M Velazco © (Tavares, 90), F Frater (Ramirez, 70)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Fernandez, F Rolfe
TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 5
Referee: Brad Jensen
Assistant Referees: Jacob Herold, Kali Smith
4th Official: Kristi Mak
Attendance: 2,016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 91 degrees
