Same setting. Same opponent. Same result.
Matthew Delicate's second goal of the evening, an 11-yard header in the 76th minute, lifted the Richmond Kickers to a 2-2 tie with the Harrisburg City Islanders in last night's USL-2 opener at University of Richmond Stadium. If you're now experiencing a spasm of déjà vu -- well, you're not alone.
Richmond and Harrisburg played to a 2-2 stalemate in the 2009 opener, too. Then, as yesterday, the Kickers scored first, sagged in the waning minutes of the first half and needed a late goal to earn a deadlock.
There, however, the similarities end. The Kickers were visibly disappointed by the quality of their play in last year's contest. But they seemed encouraged -- upbeat, almost -- last night. And not without reason. Richmond applied consistent pressure following Delicate's second score. So superior were the Kickers in the final 10 minutes that Harrisburg likely felt fortunate to escape.
"We changed a few things at halftime and asked the guys to play more positively, and I thought their response was superb," said Kickers coach Leigh Cowlishaw. "We really didn't do anything tactical. We just made a few personnel changes" -- most notably, inserting midfielder Ty Shipalane and forward Charlie Reiter to energize the attack -- "and we started playing more directly and with more purpose."
Their effort was rewarded 30 minutes into the half. Defender Sascha Gorres, cruising along the left sideline, found Delicate with an exquisite 30-yard crossing pass. So precise was Gorres' delivery that Delicate needed to do little more than nod his head to punch the ball past Harrisburg goalkeeper Danny Cepero.
The goal, Delicate said, did not occur by accident.
"I'll bet Sascha and I have worked on exactly that play -- that same cross and finish -- for 10 or 15 minutes after every practice this year," Delicate said. "It's kind of nice to be able to pull it off in a game."
Delicate, last year's USL-2 regular-season goal-scoring champion, needed only 10½ minutes to collect his first tally of the new season. Gorres helped create this one, too. A long diagonal pass by the Kickers defender found midfielder Mike Burke prowling unattended to the right of the City Islanders' cage. Just as Harrisburg's defense began to shift in his direction, Burke slipped a sharp pass into the vacant area in front of the goal. Delicate and the ball arrived simultaneously. Cepero had no chance against Delicate's 10-yard shot.
Harrisburg responded quickly. A botched exchange between defender Henry Kalungi and Richmond goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale created a loose ball in front of the Kickers' net. Islanders forward Sheanon Williams pounced and scored in the 17th minute. A deft feed through traffic by Harrisburg midfielder Kai Kasiguran permitted teammate Brian Ombiji to score from the doorstep in the 40th minute.
Richmond outshot Harrisburg 6-0 in the final 45 minutes. The second-half surge extended the club's long streak of USL-2 success at UR Stadium. The Kickers last lost a regular-season home game in July 2006. Their last home loss of any sort occurred in the 2008 playoff semifinals.
Contact Vic Dorr Jr. at (804) 649-6442 or vdorr@timesdispatch.com.
Harrisburg ------------------------- 2 0 -- 2
Richmond ------------------------- 1 1 -- 2
Scoring: 1, Richmond, Delicate 1 (Burke), 11th minute; 2, Harrisburg, Williams 1, 17th; 3, Harrisburg, Ombiji 1 (Kasiguran), 40th; 4, Richmond, Delicate 2 (Gorres), 76th
Shots: Richmond 9-6
Saves : Richmond, Pascale 3; Harrisburg, Cepero 1
Corner kicks: Richmond 8-5
Offsides: 3-3
Fouls: Harrisburg 20-6
Yellow cards: Kalungi, R, 14th; Schofield, H, 48th; Burke, R, 73rd
Referee: Kai Goodrich
A: 2,417
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement