Greenville Triumph 1, Richmond Kickers 1
| RICHMOND KICKERS | 1 | 14’ Sierakowski (Fitch) |
| GREENVILLE TRIUMPH | 1 | 45’ Velasquez (Robles) |
GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Richmond Kickers (3-8-4, 13 pts) drew second-place Greenville Triumph (7-4-3, 24 pts), Friday night, earning a 1-1 draw and remaining unbeaten all-time at Paladin Stadium.
Ryan Sierakowski would receive a through ball in the penalty area in the second minute but his shot, headed for the far post, was deflected up into the air and forced a corner.
Lyam MacKinnon crossed the ball to Ben Zukowski who took a left footer, aiming for the back post, but Kickers’ keeper Ryan Shellow made the save and shut down the Greenville drive in the 11th minute.
Sierakowski would open the scoring in the 14th. Off a short corner from Nil Vinyals, Maxi Schenfeld would send the ball back to him for a cross to the far post. Simon Fitch received the ball and sent it back to the top of the six where Sierakowski took a bicycle attempt to send it into the far right corner and give the Kickers the 1-0 lead.
Greenville saw an opportunity to equalize but the attempt flew wide of Shellow’s goal in the 21st.
In the 26th, MacKinnon flew down the pitch in transition but Shellow stood tall, diving to make the save and allow his defenders to clear so the Kickers would keep the lead.
Another Greenville free kick comes into the feet of MacKinnon at the top of the six in the 32nd minute and Shellow came off his line to shut him down again.
At the close of the half, the Triumph would even the score. Greenville’s Sebastian Velasquez got to a one-on-one ball first in the penalty area and poked his attempt into the net.
Out of the break, the Kickers sent the ball back the other way and a cross in the 49th sent Billhardt running on but it stayed just out of his reach and fell to the Greenville keeper.
In the 53rd, Vinyals found Sierakowski on the wing who shook off his marker and crossed on the ground. The ball almost snuck through to Emiliano Terzaghi but the keeper got down to knock it out of bounds in time, forcing a corner.
The Kickers saw two more strong attempts up the right side from the consistent combination of Fitch and Billhardt twice in the early second half, where they worked with Vinyals, but both times, Billhardt would be rulled offside.
In the 72nd minute, Shellow made another save as the Triumph pushed on the counter and sent the match back the other way.
Rain started pouring on the match that Greenville tried to take advantage of but Shellow came up with the save with ease despite the slick conditions. After a significant rain delay, Shellow made a stoppage-time save to keep the match level through the final minutes.
The Kickers will travel to Omaha for the next match before returning to City Stadium on Thursday, August 29 to host Spokane Velocity in Round 8 of the USL Jägermeister Cup. Kickoff for the match is set for 7:00 p.m.
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