A four-goal first half outburst provided enough of a cushion for Phoenix Rising FC on Saturday evening as they held off Monterey Bay F.C. 4-2.
Seku Conneh gets credit for the first goal in Monterey Bay’s team history, a 77th minute header from a Morey Doner cross. But it came with the team already in the hole 4-0.
“The response of the team and the efforts from all of the players and staff was amazing in the second half for me,” said MBFC head coach Frank Yallop. “It can go two ways. You quit and it ends up eight or nine to zero or you dig in.”
Phoenix put the ball in the net with the game barely two minutes old. Chase Boone came inches from an equalizer just over 10 minutes later. But Phoenix poured it on in through the rest of the first half against a Monterey Bay defense still finding its form.
“I think maybe in the first half there were a little jitters,” said MBFC defender Hugh Roberts. “Then we calmed down.”
By then end of the first 45 minutes of play, Phoenix held a comfortable 4-0 advantage. But in the initial game of Monterey Bay’s history, consolation came after the break.
With three minutes remaining in regulation Conneh headed the ball into a hopeful area. He was able to regain possession after a little pinball and fed the ball to Arun Basuljevic, whose shot was deflected.
Adrian Rebollar, a CSU Monterey Bay alum signed to a contract just a few days before the opener, located the ball and directed it into the top of the net to make it a 4-2 game.
It could have been closer. A few minutes after Conneh’s goal, James Murphy and Mobi Fehr moved the ball into dangerous territory and found Basuljevic in space.
Basuljevic evaded a defender and essayed a shot that clipped the top of the crossbar.
“From a coach's perspective, I’m very happy with our fight back,” Yallop said. “We’ve got a lot to work on. Having said that, we were in Phoenix against the best team in the west, but our second half performance was amazing.”
Monterey Bay travels to Colorado Springs this weekend.
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