Eastern Conference
Seeking their first road win of the season, Tallahassee SC made the long journey west to Crusader Field to go head to head against Hattiesburg FC on Saturday night. Both teams struggled to find their offense in this matchup with Tallahassee SC’s Boneco Brazil scoring the only goal of the match in the 19th minute. Leaving his feet and striking the ball in mid air with an athletic bicycle kick, Boneco left the crowd stunned and the goal keeper frozen as the ball flew past HFC’s keeper and found it’s way into the back of the net, giving Tallahassee a 1-0 lead. In the 70th minute, the club from Florida had a chance to extend their lead with a penalty kick, but the Hattiesburg keeper came up with a big save, keeping the lead at 1-0. Towards the end of the second half, HFC was finally controlling the tempo of the game and they even had a chance to tie it in the last minute of stoppage time, but Matt Tanner, Tallahassee’s goal keeper, made a great save on the back line, securing the three points and the road win for Tallahassee.
In a must win match for both teams in the Eastern Conference, last place Pensacola FC went to war with first place AFC Mobile on Saturday night at Ashton Brosnaham Stadium in Pensacola. This roller coaster of a match saw the club from Mobile score four goals in the first half alone. With few chances coming from either side in the first few minutes of play, the game would eventually pick up speed when Sam Blackburn started the scoring drive off with an Azalea goal in the 16th minute assisted by Tillman Schober. Eleven minutes later, in the 27th minute, Iba Ndaw would give the Azalea’s a two goal lead after another great assist from Tillman Schober. AFC Mobile would continue to score and Schober would continue to dish out assists as two more goals were scored before the first half was over. One of the two goals came from Chisom Ogbonna in the 33rd minute and the other goal came from Arad Lev-Ari who poked the ball home off a Tillman Schober cross just before the first half ended, giving Tillman his fourth assist of the match and Mobile a comfortable 4-0 lead. Unfortunately, the storyline flipped for AFC Mobile in the second half as their performance became sloppy and slow. Pensacola FC took advantage of Mobile’s sloppy play early in the second half and found a glimpse of hope with a cheeky flick goal in the 48th minute. The 59ers continued to attack the Azalea backline and were able to find the back of the net yet again in the 60th minute with a goal off of a wonderful corner kick, cutting the Azalea lead to 4-2. The team from Florida would get another lucky goal in the 96th minute from an accidental own goal by AFC Mobile but the match would end in a well fought 4-3 battle that found a deserving AFC Mobile club on top.
The Gulf Coast Rangers tried to keep their undefeated season afloat on Wednesday night as they took on the Port City Sounders at Fairhope Municipal Stadium in Alabama. While Port City FC was trying to get back to their winning ways, the 2-2-0 Rangers squad needed only three more points to take over the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. After a thirty minute rain delay, the game was finally underway and Port City started the game with aggression and pace, putting pressure on the Rangers keeper early. Winger Joao Facanha and striker Jordan Hall continued to pressure the keeper and constantly created chances for Port City throughout the entire match, but the Sounders just couldn’t get one past the Rangers keeper. With just a few shots on goal and minimal possession of the ball in the full 90 minutes of play, Gulf Coast also struggled to find their offense during the match. It was a game of defense and goal keeping with the match ending in a 0-0 tie, making this the first 0-0 draw of the 2019 GCPL season.
Central Conference
In week four’s GCPL Game on the Week, it was a battle between the undefeated as FC New Orleans traveled to Covington to take on Northshore United at Wolverine Stadium. There was no easing into this match with both clubs coming out passing and probing from the opening kickoff. The first strike in this clash of unbeaten contenders came from Northshore. Eric Schwing made a long throw into the center of the New Orleans box in the 8th minute that was met by rising Mason Morise who nodded the ball past the keeper, giving him his third goal of the season and Northshore the early 1-0 lead. FC New Orleans would go on to eventually tie the game at 1-1 in the 35th minute when a perfectly placed ball off of a free kick found its way into the net past the United keeper. Tightly contested, the first half would end tied at 1-1. The club from NOLA would extend their lead to 2-1 in the second half after a floated cross was met on the half volley, hitting the right goal post and sailing into the back of the net. In the 60th minute, FC New Orleans gave themselves even more breathing room with another shot from the top of the box where the forward had time and room to score a well placed shot. Luckily for Northshore, FC New Orleans drew a straight red card with a harsh sliding tackle midway through the second half. This proved to be a costly mistake as the determined United club would rally back late in the second half with goals coming in the 74th and 82nd minute both from Zac Breaux. Northshore United and FC New Orleans both avoided their first loss of the season as the match would end in a 3-3 draw, leaving the two clubs undefeated after four regular season games.
Baton Rouge United and the Mississippi Blues, two teams that are in desperate need of three points, faced off against each other on Saturday night on the Blue’s home turf at Arrow Stadium. Losing their first three straight matches and having scored only one goal in the entire 2019 GCPL season, Baton Rouge United was looking to redeem themselves on Saturday night and bounce back from a long losing streak. However, the Blue’s had other plans in mind as they took control of the match late and shutout Baton Rouge in a much need 3-0 victory. All three of Mississippi’s goals came late in the second half. Their three goals came from Jarrad White in the 68th minute, Jan Bergk in the 75th minute, and Caleb Carpenter in the 87th minute. Overall, it was a great effort by all the men from Mississippi Blue’s squad as they handed Baton Rouge their fourth straight loss of the season and secured a much needed three points for the relentless Blue’s squad.
After an astounding 8-0 win against Baton Rouge United last week, a confident Motagua New Orleans club took on a struggling Gaffa FC squad at Pan American Stadium in Jackson on Saturday night. Motagua came out fierce and aggressive at the start of the game with Kenroy Rodriguez scoring just 10 minutes into the match giving New Orleans a 1-0 lead. Not long after Motagua’s first goal, in the 18th minute, Gaffa FC tied the match at 1-1 with a rebound doorstep goal from Gregory Anderson. However, the game wasn’t tied for long as Steve Morris, Motagua New Orleans’ team captain, went on a three goal rampage before the end of the first half. Morris was a madman on the field and scored three back to back to back goals in under twenty minutes in the 28th, 35th, and 45th minute. At halftime, Gaffa FC would find themselves down by three goals in a 4-1 deficit. The score would remain the same for most of the second half until Gaffa FC’s Chance Bourdene was finally able to put one past the Motagua keeper, making it a 4-2 game. The last goal of the match came in the 89th minute from Nestor Peralta Jr., giving New Orleans a demanding 5-2 lead and putting the icing on the cake for a solid three goal win.
Western Conference
Shreveport United, a team that is still looking for their first win of the season, headed to Alexandria on Saturday night to play against the Pool Boys. The club from Alexandria only had one goal in last week’s loss against Louisiana Krewe, but they came out with their foot on the gas in week four’s matchup. In just the first 10 minutes of the first half, the Pool Boys found themselves up 3-0 with two back to back goals by Gylles Mitchel in the 2nd and 4th minute and a goal from Dril Juno Mboungou in the 7th minute. The boys from Alexandria showed no mercy towards Shreveport United as they continued to pour goals into the back of the net throughout the rest of the match. Mackenzie Young added to Pool Boys demanding lead with two more back to back goals in the 17th and 18th minute, making it 5-0 Alexandria. The Pool Boys would score one more goal before the half was over, making it a 6-0 game at halftime. As if six goals wasn’t already enough, PBFC added four more goals in the second half. Matheus Barrozo scored two goals late in the second half and Claudy St. Louis and Mackenzie Young had one goal apiece in stoppage time, giving Alexandria PBFC a clean sheet 10-0 victory and Mackenzie his first hat trick of the season.
Over in Lafeyette, the Krewe hosted the Central Texas Lobos on Saturday night at the UL Lafayette Soccer Field. Going into this matchup, both of these clubs earned their first three points of the season last week and they were both seeking to add three more. It was a well defended match from both sides as there was only one goal scored in the entire game. The lone goal came in the 75th minute of action from Louisiana Krewe’s Dillion Gallet who found the ball off of an assist from Oscar Castellanos, putting it away and giving Louisiana a late 1-0 lead. The single goal was enough for the men from Louisiana to take down the squad from Central Texas with the game ending in a 1-0 victory for the Krewe.
Pumped and ready to bring home another win, the Boca Knights fought against Cajun SC to keep their undefeated season alive on the pitch at Bossier High School. Italo Barbosa started the Knights off on a high note with a swift goal in the 2nd minute of play. The Knights were quick to extend their lead in the 8th minute to 2-0 when Quesi Weston scored just 6 minutes after Barbosa. Towards the end of the first half, Cajun FC found the spark in offense they needed to claw their way back from a 2 goal deficit when Brandon Briscoe scored back to back goals in the 32nd and 45th minute, ending the first half in a 2-2 tie. The boys from Boca collected themselves at halftime and ran away with the game in the second half. Carlos Martinez scored the third goal of the match for the Knights in the 51st minute and David Martinez would officially put the game out of reach for Cajun SC after scoring in the 79th minute, sealing the 4-2 win and three more points for the still undefeated Boca Knights FC.
