Photos and Game Summary: Kickers Beat Themselves in Home Opener

RICHMOND, Va. — (Saturday, April 24, 2020) — The Richmond Kickers (1-1-0) fell at home to the defending league title-winners Greenville Triumph SC (1-0-0) at City Stadium Saturday night. An own goal in the 74th minute gave the visitors the only goal of the night.

Ivan Magalhães came up with a massive block in the 17th minute to shut down the Greenville attack. Don Smart whipped in a cross. The center back dove in to head the ball away from goal to shut down any chance.

Akira Fitzgerald made a goal-line save in the 20th minute to prevent Greenville from getting on the board. Tyler Polak served in a free kick to the back post for Max Hemmings. His header was denied by Fitzgerald on the line. Lachlan McLean looked for a follow-up shot as the flag went up for the offside call.

Richmond had their first look on goal in the 27th minute. Jonathan Bolanos had space to run up the left wing. Looking like he was going to cut across the top of the box, he fed the ball through for Emiliano Terzaghi. The Argentine turned to get a shot off that forced a save from Dallas Jaye.

Greenville was reduced to 10 men in the 40th minute after Cesar Murillo made contact to Bolano’s upper body when the forward had daylight between him and the goal. Murillo was issued his second yellow card of the match and sent off.

The deadlock was broken in the 74th minute by the Triumph. Abdi Mohamed played the ball ahead to McLean. He looked to get the ball into the box with multiple Greenville players in the area. Luke Pavone slid in trying to clear the ball out of the six-yard box but it ricocheted awkwardly and found the back of the net.

Deep into stoppage time, Oalex Anderson was inches away from getting the tying goal. Zaca Moran served in a ball that found Stanley Alves. He leaped for a header to square the ball to Anderson. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines forward turned towards goal and his shot screamed just wide of the Greenville net.

The Kickers are back on the road next Sunday as they make the trip down to Florida to face Fort Lauderdale CF. This match is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. and it will be available live on WTVR CBS 6.3 and streaming on ESPN+. The match will also be broadcasted in Spanish on WULT Ultra 94.1FM/1540AM.

Richmond: Akira Fitzgerald, Juan Pablo Monticelli, Ivan Magalhães, Jalen Crisler, Luke Pavone, Zaca Moran, Victor Falck (77’ – Stanley Alves), Emiliano Terzaghi, Jonathan Bolanos (74’ – Oalex Anderson), Hernan Gonzalez (61’ – Nil Vinyals), Matt Bolduc

Unused Substitutes: Austin Aviza, Nathan Aune, Cameron Vickers, Austin Causey

Greenville: Dallas Jaye, Tyler Polak, Brandon Fricke, Max Hemmings, Cesar Murillo, Aaron Walker (90+1’ – Evan Lee), Noah Pilato, Andrew Booth (87’ – Alex Morrell), Don Smart, Lachlan McLean (79’ – JJ Donnelly), Marios Lomis (45’ – Abdi Mohamed)

Unused Substitutes: Paul Christensen, Allen Gavilanes, Jesus Ibarra