The Swope Park Rangers picked up a point in an entertaining 1-1 draw with Atlanta United 2 at Children’s Mercy Park on Sunday afternoon. Felipe Hernandez scored early on before the Rangers were pegged back in the second half as the two sides split the points. The draw sees SPR move to 1-5-3 (6 points) on the season.
The Rangers came out of the gates flying and took the lead within two minutes. Felipe Hernandez forced a turnover deep in Atlanta territory and played Jerome Ngom Mbekeli through on goal. Mbekeli saw the ball tackled away from him at the vital moment, but Hernandez had followed his pass to slot home for his third goal in as many games and fourth of the season – setting a new career high just nine games into the season.
Wilson Harris, who had been on the bench for Sporting KC during Saturday’s draw with Vancouver on a short-term agreement prompted by Extreme Hardship, almost doubled the lead in the 10th minute when he received a ball in the area, spun his man to his left foot but saw his effort deflected over the bar.
In the 28th minute, Harris showed his terrific link-up skill as he ran off behind the Atlanta backline and flicked a lovely ball to Will Little who wasn’t able to corral the ball but right back Mark Segbers ran onto it and lashed a low effort just wide of the target.
As the clock ticked toward halftime, Little did well to spring Sporting KC loanee Gedion Zelalem into the area, but the midfielder’s low strike from a tight angle was well blocked by Dylan Castanheira in the Atlanta goal.
Five minutes into the second half, Atlanta had their first real chance of the match. George Campbell was able to ghost into the area to meet a cross on the volley, but John Pulskamp dove to his right and palmed the effort away. In the 55th minute, Mikey Ambrose picked out Yosef Samuel in the area, but the forward’s flicked header looped onto the roof of the net.
Atlanta found the equalizer in the 68th minute when a corner was recycled and dropped to substitute Laurence Wyke on the edge of the area, and his volley on the turn found the bottom corner, leveling the score at 1-1.
Four minutes later, the Rangers had a wonderful chance to retake the lead as Academy product Sean Karani burned his man down the left wing and cut the ball back to fellow substitute Ethan Vanacore-Decker, but his shot was well blocked by Castanheira to keep the score deadlocked.
Both sides poured forward looking for a winner in the final 15 minutes as the game opened up, but neither side was able to snatch a winner as they split the points on the day.
The Rangers remain at home next week as the side takes on Memphis 901 FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Wednesday, May 22 with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed live via ESPN+ while tickets are available via SeatGeek.com.
2019 USL Championship
Game 9 of 34
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 419
Weather: 66 degrees and partly cloudy
<strong>Score</strong> |
<strong>1</strong> |
<strong>2</strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
<p>Swope Park Rangers (1-5-3, 6 points)</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>0</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>Atlanta United 2 (3-5-3, 12 points)</p> |
<p>0</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>1</p> |
Swope Park Rangers: John Pulskamp; Mark Segbers, Kaveh Rad, Graham Smith (C), Alexsander; Camden Riley, Felipe Hernandez, Gedion Zelalem; Will Little (Killian Colombie 85’), Wilson Harris (Ethan Vanacore-Decker 70’), Jerome Ngom Mbekeli (Sean Karani 62’)
Subs Not Used: Max Trejo, Mo Abualnadi, Rassambek Akhmatov, Jake Davis
Atlanta United 2: Dylan Castanheira; Jon Gallagher, George Campbell, Tyler Ruthven (Laurence Wyke 21’), Mikey Ambrose (Jackson Conway 73’); Luiz Fernando (Gordon Wild 58’), Anderson Asiedu, Jack Metcalf (C), Jose Hernandez; Andrew Carleton, Yosef Samuel
Subs Not Used: Marzuq Puckerin, Laurent Kissiedou, Will Vint, Bienvenue Kanakimana
Scoring Summary:
SPR – Felipe Hernandez 4 (Unassisted) 2’
ATL – Laurence Wyke 2 (Unassisted) 68’
Misconduct Summary:
ATL – George Campbell (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 23’
ATL – Laurence Wyke (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 29’
SPR – Alexsander (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 43’
SPR – Camden Riley (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 73’
SPR – Sean Karani (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 86’
ATL – Jackson Conway (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 91+
ATL – Jose Hernandez (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 96+
<strong>Stat</strong> |
<strong>SPR</strong> |
<strong>ATL</strong> |
<p>Shots</p> |
<p>13</p> |
<p>11</p> |
<p>Shots on Goal</p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>2</p> |
<p>Saves</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>3</p> |
<p>Fouls</p> |
<p>14</p> |
<p>16</p> |
<p>Offsides</p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>3</p> |
<p>Corner Kicks</p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>8</p> |
Referee: Michael Radchuk
Assistant Referee: Shane Kennard
Assistant Referee: John Krill
Fourth Official: Jarred Mosher
