HARRISON, N.J. (July 12, 2015) – New York Red Bulls II head into the locker room down by one goal in their return to Red Bull Arena, 1-0. Craig Foster recorded the opening goal in his USL debut in the twenty-third minute.
In the seventh minute, Leo Stolz took a shot which deflected off a defender to Marius Obekop, but Obekop couldn’t get off a clean shot and his hit flew harmlessly into the arms of the goalkeeper.
The physicality of the match picked up quickly after 10 minutes. Harrisburg’s Enric Valles received a yellow card in the eleventh minute for a tackle on Chris Tsonis, and Erick Cruz was booked five minutes later for a challenge on Bolu Akinyode.
Harrisburg opened the scoring in the twenty-third minute when a long ball was sent towards Red Bulls II’s back line. The ball flew towards Akinyode and an awkward bounce allowed the charging Foster to gain ground on the New York defender. Foster was first to the ball in the penalty box and slid his chance to Kyle Reynish’s left and into the side netting for the goal.
In the thirty-fourth minute, Harrisburg’s Cardel Benbow went down with an injury and needed to be carried off the field. He was replaced one minute later by Antoine Hoppenot.
Manolo Sanchez created some dangerous chances in the late stages of the half which nearly earned NYRB II an equalizer. In the fourty-first minute, Sanchez’s cross found the head of Tsonis, but his header was sent over the crossbar. Three minutes later Sanchez delivered a pass across the face of goal to Obekop, but he skied his chance.
