HARRISON, N.J. (July 12, 2015) – New York Red Bulls II were defeated in their first return to Red Bull Arena in seven weeks by Harrisburg City Islanders, 2-0. Craig Foster struck first in the twenty-third minute and Enric Valles converted a penalty kick in the eighty-eighth minute to steal three-points on the road.
With the loss, New York falls to 6-7-4 on the season and into seventh place in the Eastern Conference. For Harrisburg City, the win bolsters them ahead of Red Bulls II into sixth place.
New York threatened early when Marius Obekop collected a deflected shot by Leo Stolz, but Obekop couldn’t get off a clean hit and his shot flew harmlessly into the arms of goalkeeper Nick Noble.
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 was headed just over the crossbar by Chris Tsonis. Three minutes later Sanchez delivered a pass across the face of goal to Obekop, but he skied his chance.
In the second half, New York came out of the gates with an early chance from Tsonis who found space in a dangerous area, but he sent his shot high. Red Bulls II fans thought the home side equalized in the sixty-fourth minute when Akinyode charged down the left flank and spotted Tsonis sprinting towards goal. Akinyode’s cross was placed directly on the head of Tsonis who nodded into the back of the net, but the assistant referee ruled him offsides.
In the eighty-sixth minute, an odd-man break for the Islanders led to a one-on-one with Konrad Plewa, who brought down his man in the box. The whistle blew and a penalty kick was awarded to Harrisburg. Valles stepped up to the spot against Rafael Diaz, who was a second half substitute for Kyle Reynish, and blasted his chance straight down the middle to double the Harrisburg advantage.
Moments later, New York nearly pulled one back when Franklin Castellanos found Juan Sebastan Sanchez in a cluster by the six-yard box. The Red Bulls Academy product tapped the driven pass on-goal, but the goalkeeper was able to parry away the chance from danger.
Harrisburg earned a breakaway chance in the dying seconds of the match, but a big one-on-one save from Diaz prevented a third goal.
Next weekend, New York Red Bulls II travel to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for the second game of the home-and-home on Saturday, July 18, another six-pointer.
Scoring Summary
- HAR: Craig Foster 23’
- HAR: Enric Valles (PK) 88’
Discipline Summary
- HAR: Enric Valles, Caution 11’
- HAR: Erick Cruz, Caution 16’
- NY: Dan Metzger, Caution 74’
- HAR: Ken Tribbet, Caution 82’
- HAR: Antoine Hoppenot, Caution 90’+1
- NY: Dan Bedoya, Caution 90’ +1
Lineups
NY: Kyle Reynish* (Rafael Diaz, 75’); James Thomas (Colin Heffron, 72’), Konrad Plewa, Mike da Fonte, Bolu Akinyode (Juan Sebastian Sanchez, 87’), Dan Metzger, Tyler Adams, Leo Stolz* ©, Manolo Sanchez* (Dan Bedoya, 63’), Chris Tsonis (Franklin Castellanos, 67’), Marius Obekop
Substitutes not used: Henry Martin, Kyle Zajec
-- MLS player on loan
-- Red Bulls Academy player
HCI: Nick Noble; Neil Shaffer Ken Tribbet, Dante Leverock, Erick Cruz (Shane Johnson, 69’), Yann Ekra, Jose Barril, Enric Valles (Garret Pettis, 89’), Jimmy McLaughlin, Cardel Benbow (Antoine Hoppenot, 35’), Craig Foster (Danny DiPrima, 65’)
Substitutes not used: Kyle Renfro, Brett Jankouskas, Shaquille Dyer
