New York 1, Richmond 0

MATCH REPORT

Saturday, April 1                 MSU Soccer Park

New York Red Bulls II        1 (Zeiko Lewis 69’)

Richmond Kickers               0

MONTCLAIR, NJ  – (Saturday, April 1, 2017) – The New York Red Bulls captured their first win of the 2017 USL season by defeating the Richmond Kickers 1-0 after Zeiko Lewis dribbled the ball into Matt Turner’s net in the 69th minute. 

The first scoring chance of the match came in the 7th minute when NYRB II drove the ball up the field to the feet of Ethan Kutler. Kutler put a venomous shot from the top left of the box to goalkeeper Matt Turner’s right, but he dove and caught the diving save. 

NYRB II had the bulk of the first half chances including several free kicks in Richmond’s defending third of the field. Star midfielder Vincent Bezecourt took the majority of the set pieces. He even found Junior Flemmings on the end of one cross, but the header was wide left.

Richmond had only one big chance in the first half, coming in the 39th minute. Central attacking midfielder Samuel Asante drove the ball up the middle of the field before laying it off to Luis Fernando Nascimento. Nascimento, however, may have taken too much time with his shot and Ethan Kutler cleared the ball away for NYRB II. 

NYRB II had a lot of great buildup play on the left to start the first half, winning two throw-ins before Bezecourt crossed the ball into the box, but Turner caught the ball in. Bezecourt put another great ball in four minutes later, this time from the middle of the field, and found Junior Flemmings right in front of goal. Flemmings faked out Turner and put the ball in the back of the net, but was called offside.

In the 65th minute, Richmond had their first second half chance as Maxim Tissot sent the ball from the left side of the field to Mikey Minutillo in the center of the box, but the shot glared off the crossbar and out. 

NYRB II broke the 0-0 stalemate just four minutes later as Raul Gonzalez conceded the third of five corners on the day. Vincent Bezecourt took the corner and Hassan Ndam tried a bicycle kick from the center of the box, but it hit Christopher Durkin’s stomach and deflected to Zeiko Lewis. He shot from the left corner of the goal and slotted it in for the game winner.

NYRB II were back on the offensive after the goal when substitute Andrew Tinari and Florian Valot passed the ball back and forth before Tinari crossed it into the box only to meet Alex Lee’s headed clearance.

Richmond had their best chance of the second half just two minutes later when Sekyere drove down to the middle of New York’s box. The Ghanain midfield substitute put a shot in, but it Hassan Ndam blocked it to Maxim Tissot. Tissot tried another shot, but David Najem blocked it away.

The Kickers furiously tried to get back into the game as the teams traded chances back and forth for the rest of the contest. Richmond manager Leigh Cowlishaw subbed in Anthony Grant as a second striker in an attempt to boost the attack.

This set up a late chance in the 85th minute when Alex Lee sent the ball from the right side to Raul Gonzalez on the right side of the box. However, Gonzalez’s shot was wide left and New York was able to run the clock out to bring home their first victory of the season.

NYRB II’s win improves their record to 1-1-0, tied atop the USL’s Eastern Conference with Richmond’s next opponents, Louisville City FC.

Richmond drops to 1-0-1, locked in a five-way tie for third place, but nine USL East teams are still yet to play two games.

New York returns to their old home of Red Bull Arena on Wednesday April 5 for a matchup with the Harrisburg City Islanders at 7 p.m.

Richmond will return home for the second annual I Heart Carytown Craft Beer Festival as they face Louisville City FC on Sat. April 8 at City Stadium at 5 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at www.richmondkickers.com.

Lineups

Red Bulls II: GK Evan Louro, David Najem (Tim Schmoll – 89’), Justin Bilyeu, Hassan Nadam, Ethan Kutler, Vincent Bezecourt, Dan Metzger, Arun Basuljevic, Zeiko Lewis (Andrew Tinari – 73’), Florian Valot, Junior Flemmings (Benjamin Mines – 66’)
Kickers: GK Matt Turner, Christopher Durkin, Conor Shanosky, Mallan Roberts, Alex Lee, Braeden Troyer, Evan Lee (Anthony Grant – 80’), Maxim Tissot, Samuel Asante (Fred Owusu Sekyere – 64’), Luiz Fernando Nascimento (Raul Gonzalez – 64’), Mikey Minutillo

Scoring Summary

69th Minute: New York: Zeiko Lewis

Cautions:

41st Minute: New York: Florian Valot

48th Minute: Richmond: Christopher Durkin

77th Minute: Richmond: Evan Lee

Ejections:

None.

Referee: Henrik Karlsson

Assistant Referees: Victor Vazquez, Tyler Wyrostek

Fourth Official: Andrew Eitel

Attendance: 806

Weather: Cloudy, 50