The Swope Park Rangers (0-3-1, 1 point) suffered a 3-1 defeat to visiting Indy Eleven (3-1-0, 9 points) on Monday night at Children’s Mercy Park.
The Rangers fell behind in just the second minute as Camden Riley’s back pass to Eric Dick was picked off by former SPR forward Dane Kelly, who rounded Dick and slotted into an empty net to give Indy Eleven an early lead.
It got worse for the home side as Thomas Enevoldsen doubled Indy Eleven’s lead in the sixth minute, tapping home Kelly’s knockdown from a seemingly offside position.
The Rangers pulled within one following a well-worked goal in the 26th minute as left back Alexsander shimmied away from his marker in his own half before driving a full 50 yards with the ball. As he approached the penalty area, Alexsander slipped a perfectly-weighted through ball to Wilson Harris who finished with aplomb for his first goal of the season.
Five minutes later, Alexsander went from setting up a goal to saving one as former SPR and Sporting KC winger Tyler Pasher burst in behind and squared a lovely ball across the face of goal that Kelly was set to tap home for his second, only for a stretching Alexsander to prod the ball away for a corner.
Felipe Hernandez created chaos in the Indy penalty area in the 36th minute as his free kick from the left wing curled into a melee of players, forcing Evan Newton into an important save to keep the visitor’s one-goal lead intact.
Goalscorer Harris, a Sporting KC Academy product, would have to leave the field in the 45th minute having tried to carry on after a brutal challenge from Indy Eleven center back Alex Crognale minutes earlier, which had resulted in a yellow card.
While the Rangers came out flying in the second half and almost equalized through Riley’s rasping strike from 20 yards, it was Indy Eleven that extended their lead when Kelly notched his second of the night with an expertly-taken finish into the top corner from just inside the area to make the score 3-1 in the 52nd minute.
Sporting KC goalkeeper Eric Dick produced an absolutely stunning save in the 62nd minute to deny Crognale a fourth goal for his side, somehow tipping a header from point-blank range over the bar to keep his side in the game. Dick once again came up big late on as Kelly went hat-trick chasing, only for the SPR goalkeeper to make an excellent save with the Jamaican through one-on-one.
Alexsander almost wrapped up a thoroughly impressive individual performance with a goal in second-half stoppage time, but his powerful free kick curled narrowly wide of the near post as the visitors saw out the remaining time to condemn the Rangers to a 3-1 victory.
Next up for the Rangers is a trip to take on expansion side Birmingham Legion FC on Saturday, April 20, at 4 p.m. CT.
2019 USL Championship
Game 4 of 34
Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 232
Weather: 74 degrees and partly cloudy
<strong>Score</strong> |
<strong>1</strong> |
<strong>2</strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
<p>Swope Park Rangers (0-2-1, 1 point)</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>0</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>Indy Eleven (2-1-0, 7 points)</p> |
<p>2</p> |
<p>1</p> |
<p>3</p> |
Swope Park Rangers: Eric Dick; Mark Segbers, Graham Smith (C), Camden Riley, Alexsander; Wan Kuzain (Ayyoub Allach 78’), Felipe Hernandez, Gedion Zelalem; Jerome Ngom Mbekeli, Wilson Harris (Sean Karani 46+), Killian Colombie (Will Little 68’)
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Mo Abualnadi, Kaveh Rad, Rassambek Akhmatov
Indy Eleven: Evan Newton; Patrick Barrett (C), Alex Crognale, Neveal Hackshaw; Macauley King, Tyler Gibson, Thomas Enevoldsen, Nico Matern (Kim Do-Heon 77’), Ayoze; Tyler Pasher (Matt Watson 60’), Dane Kelly (Alioune Diakhate 88’)
Subs Not Used: Jordan Farr, Lucas Farias, Mitch Osmond, Karl Ouimette
Scoring Summary:
IND – Dane Kelly 1 (Unassisted) 2’
IND – Thomas Enevoldsen 2 (Dane Kelly 1) 6’
SPR – Wilson Harris 1 (Alexsander 1) 26’
IND – Dane Kelly 2 (Unassisted) 53’
Misconduct Summary:
SPR – Wan Kuzain (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 30’
IND – Dane Kelly (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 33’
IND – Alex Crognale (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 41’
SPR – Jerome Ngom Mbekeli (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 63’
<strong>Stat</strong> |
<strong>SPR</strong> |
<strong>IND</strong> |
<p>Shots</p> |
<p>15</p> |
<p>12</p> |
<p>Shots on Goal</p> |
<p>3</p> |
<p>8</p> |
<p>Saves</p> |
<p>5</p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>Fouls</p> |
<p>14</p> |
<p>12</p> |
<p>Offsides</p> |
<p>0</p> |
<p>3</p> |
<p>Corner Kicks</p> |
<p>4</p> |
<p>2</p> |
Referee: Kevin Broadley
Assistant Referee: Shane Kennard
Assistant Referee: James Cody
Fourth Official: Joseph Radzialowski
