New York City FC continue their strong push in the middle of the season with their second win in four days, following a 3-2 win over Carolina Core at Belson Stadium on Wednesday night. The win appeared to be an easy one for City who led 3-0 in the 78th minute. Despite being behind, the Core fought back, pulling to within one goal in stoppage time but it was too little, too late, for the visitors.
The first half saw both teams play to a stalemate through the first twenty minutes. Both sides did their best to impress their style on the other with each negating each other, producing few chances. That changed in the 21st minute when Cooper Flax took a shot from just outside the 16 yard box, beating the Carolina keeper to open the scoring. From there, City continued to push the game with chances from Drew Kerr and David Duque nearly doubling the lead.
Core head coach Jake Davis made two major changes in the second half in an attempt to grab the momentum. City, in turn, came out of the locker room flat-footed, allowing Arnaud Tattevin to grab an effort, forcing Brennan Klein into making a save to keep City’s lead. In the 73rd minute City doubled the lead with a deflected shot by substitute Lucas De Pinho. Five minutes later, Cooper Flax put the game away by converting a penalty.
The final 10 minutes of the game saw the Core continue their push, finding their first goal of the game in the 82nd minute. A corner kick bounced in the box with Andrew Czech heading it past Klein. Stoppage time saw the Core grab one more to make the home team worry through the final few minutes. A final shot by David Diaz gave Carolina a bit of momentum but not enough to grab a point in Queens, New York.
With their second win this week, City II raise themselves to ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
STARTING XI:
New York City FC II: Klein; Campos (67′ Lopez), Loiola Santos, Acito, Kerr, Flax, Suchecki, Ponce (67′ De Pinho), Duque (90′ Martin), Samb, Bilden (56′ Hvatum)
Carolina Core: Holliday; Martinez (26′ Hammond), Evers, Orbaugh, Caiza, Zeegers (46′ Baer), Raimbault (46′ Lundeen), Montenegro, Czech, Tattevin (73′ Sumo Jr.), Pineda (79′ Diaz)
SCORING SUMMARY:
21′ (New York City FC II) Cooper Flax assisted by Adonis Campos & Joseph Suchecki
73′ (New York City FC II) Lucas De Pinho assisted by David Duque & Henrik Hvatum
78′ (New York City FC II) Cooper Flax penalty kick
82′ (Carolina Core) Andrew Czech assisted by Charles Orbaugh & Corey Lundeen
90′ (Carolina Core) David Diaz unassisted
DISCIPLINE:
23′ (New York City FC II) Elhadji Samb – YELLOW CARD
59′ (Carolina Core) Arnaud Tattevin – YELLOW CARD
85′ (New York City FC II) Lucas De Pinho – YELLOW CARD
87′ (Carolina Core) Nolan Evers – YELLOW CARD
photo from NYCFC II