Kickers Weather the Hailstorm and Pickup the Win – Photos and Game Summary

Official Kickers Game Summary

RICHMOND KICKERS: 3 42′ Vinyals (Bentley), 45+2′ Terzaghi, 76′ Bolanos (Gordon)
NORTHERN COLORADO HAILSTORM FC: 2 68′ Cornwall (Rogers), 88′ Folla (Cornwall)

The Richmond Kickers (5-3-3,18 pts) earned a 3-2 win over Northern Colorado Hailstorm (8-2-3, 10 pts) to keep their place at the top of the league standings with goals scored by Nil Vinyals, Emiliano Terzaghi, and Jonathan Bolanos.

The match began to pick up in the 16th minute with a free kick opportunity taken by Nil Vinyals in the 16th minute. In the 18th minute, there was another key opportunity for Terzaghi as he picked the ball off of the Hailstorm defender and took the shot from outside the right corner of the 18-yard-box.

The Kickers continued to knock on Northern Colorado’s door with another opportunity taken in the 27th minute by Bolanos as he received the ball around midfield and dribbled all the way to the box and took a shot that was deflected by the keeper.

The makeup of the game changed in the 29th minute as Hailstorm went down to 10 players on the field when Destan Norman received his second yellow within one minute of receiving his first yellow due to a reckless tackle committed on Vinyals. The first yellow card offense was given due to a reckless tackle on Terzaghi in the 28th minute.

In the 42nd minute, the Kickers drew first blood with a play orchestrated by Stephen Payne and Matthew Bentley to get the ball into the box to find Vinyals who was crashing into the box. Payne played the ball up to Bentley just in front for Bentley to play the one-touch cross that found Vinyals. The Spaniard caught the pass on the volley with pace which raced past the keeper and into the back of the net.

The Kickers doubled their lead in the first minute of first-half stoppage time as Moran switched the field to find Payne. The fullback crossed the ball into the box, finding Bolanos who attempted to take the shot for himself. The initial attempt was saved, but Terzaghi was there waiting patiently for the rebound off the defender. He calmly put the ball past the keeper and into the net to net his first league goal since April 25th.

The Roos were hungry for more out of the break as Bentley drew a foul in the 53rd minute just outside of the penalty area. Vinyals took the free kick and his attempt curved to the right side of the goal but was denied as it just missed the inside of the right post.

Northern Colorado pulled one back to cut the Kickers’ lead in the 68th minute when Arthur Rogers sent in a free kick that was headed into the net by Robert Cornwall.

The Roos responded in the 77th minute as Payne gave the ball to Owayne Gordon on the right wing. The winger crossed the ball with a deadly curve that froze the keeper and went out of the reach of the defender. Waiting on the back side was Bolanos who went low to redirect the ball into the net.

Hailstorm found one more in the 88th minute as Leo Folla was able to score off a set piece that was taken by Cornwall.

The visitors had one chance at finding a late equalizer, but Akira Fitzgerald was able to calmly make the final save of the match in the second minute of stoppage time.

The Kickers will travel on Thursday, June 23rd to take on Forward Madison FC. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. The watch party will be held at The Playbook Sports Bar and Grill.

Stay up to date with the latest news from the Kickers at RichmondKickers.com and on the official team app.