ECNL Boys South Carolina National Event: Day 2 Recap

The ECNL Boys South Carolina National Event resumed Saturday with over 50 teams competing in the U-13 and U-14 age groups.

Continue reading for a rundown of the action.

Resilient Ones

In the first time slot of the day, Richmond United squared off against Sporting Delaware in a battle of two ECNL U14 newcomers participating in a National Event for the first time. The two teams pushed each other to the limit, creating a memorable game for both sides.

Sporting Delaware opened the scoring early in the half by capitalizing on a 50/50 ball inside the box. Sporting’s Mack Rubano raced toward the loose ball, and beat the charging Richmond keeper. He knocked the ball out of the goalie’s reach and buried his shot to give Sporting a 1-0 lead.

Minutes later, Sporting Delaware made it a 2-0 game. Sporting sent a service from the right side of the box but the Richmond keeper was unable to collect the cross. Sporting then put a shot on net that hit the post before Rubano finally tapped the ball across the goal line for his second of the contest.

As the first half came to a close, Richmond cut Sporting Delaware’s lead to 2-1, setting up a spirited second frame.

In the second half, Richmond tied it at 2-2 midway through the frame. The Richmond offense sent a pass into the middle of the box and Andrew Richman ripped a screamer top shelf, also his second tally of the game.

In the dying minutes, Richmond had numerous set pieces to try and find the go-ahead tally, but couldn’t solve the Sporting goalie a third time, resulting in a 2-2 draw.

“It’s always good to have a result like this, especially at these events when you have three games in three days,” said Sascha Goerres, Richmond United U14 Head Coach. “Yesterday we lost 3-0 and that was a tough game but they never gave up yesterday and they showed that again today. Being down early, I was really happy to see them keep working and playing for each other. We always talk about how we want to play 100% all the time and so for me, it’s really good to see that they do that. And you can only see that when you’re playing from behind.”

Dos Golazos

GSA and Louisville City met Saturday morning as two teams with some of the best records heading in to ECNL South Carolina. From the opening whistle on, both sides stepped on the gas and never let up.

GSA immediately took a 1-0 lead, scoring in the first minute. GSA earned itself a corner on the right side of the pitch and the service into the box was rifled into the back of the net by Connor Blake.

With GSA’s lead, Louisville City responded by pushing the pace, and the Georgia side was more than happy to oblige. The two sides went back and forth, trading scoring chance after scoring chance, forcing each backline to defend hard and often.

In the final minutes of the first half, Louisville City fouled a GSA forward, resulting in a penalty kick. The Louisville goalie dove to left on the shot and made the save, keeping the score at 1-0.

Midway through the second half, GSA broke through once again, extending its lead to 2-0. Blake earned his second goal of the contest, receiving a throughball to give himself a breakaway. He tapped his shot around the goalkeeper and into the back of the net for the score.

Louisville City continued to push the pace and attempted to get back into the contest, but GSA denied every shot and walked away with the 2-0 victory.