The Swope Park Rangers (16-7-6, 3rd place) moved into third place in the USL’s Western Conference on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over LA Galaxy II (7-17-5, 13th place) at Swope Soccer Village.
Kharlton Belmar scored in his fourth straight match to open the scoring before Lebo Moloto and Amer Didic added goals five minutes apart in the second half for the Rangers third straight win.
Belmar tallied the game-winning goal in the 37th minute, racing onto the service from fellow Sporting KC loanee Colton Storm and placing his shot through the legs of LA Galaxy II goalkeeper Bennett Sneddon. In doing so, Belmar set a new single-season club record and career high with 13 goals on the campaign, which rank fifth most in the USL this season.
Having scored eight goals in the team’s previous two matches, the Swope Park Rangers offense showed no signs of slowing down in the second half.
Moloto combined with club captain Christian Duke in the 53rd minute to set up an emphatic finish by the South African from the top of the penalty area to double the SPR lead. Amer Didic then closed out the scoring with his first goal of the season, and the team’s 50th goal of the year, on a header off a corner kick taken by SKC Academy product Felipe Hernandez.
Duke and Hernandez each earned assists on a night in which their distribution was worthy of plaudits. Duke completed 48 of 50 passes from central midfield, while Hernandez led all players with four key passes.
On the opposite end of the field, Swope Park Rangers goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas made two saves to record the team’s 11th shutout of the season, second most in the USL this season.
The Rangers, one of six teams to have secured a postseason berth, now sit one point back of Reno 1868 FC for second place in the Western Conference with three games remaining in the regular season.
Next Match
- The Swope Park Rangers will return to the road to take on Rio Grande Valley FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, September 30. The match will be streamed live on SportingKC.com and in-game updates will be available from the team’s social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Swope Park Rangers vs. LA Galaxy II
September 27, 2017 – Swope Soccer Village (Kansas City, Mo.)
Swope Park Rangers 3-0 LA Galaxy II
Scoring Summary:
SPR – Kharlton Belmar 13 (Colton Storm 3) 37’
SPR – Lebo Moloto 6 (Christian Duke 6) 53’
SPR – Amer Didic 1 (Felipe Hernandez 3) 58’
Misconduct Summary:
LA – Andre Ulrich Zanga (caution) 55’
LA – Jonathan Hernandez (caution) 67’
SPR – Nansel Selbol (caution) 69’
LA – Jorge Hernandez (caution) 73’
LA – Adrian Vera (caution) 83’
Swope Park Rangers: Adrian Zendejas; Colton Storm (Joe Amico 73), Amer Didic, Oumar Ballo, Parker Maher (Kevin Oliveira 46); James Musa, Christian Duke ©, Felipe Hernandez; Kharlton Belmar, Lebo Moloto (Nansel Selbol 66), Tyler Pasher
Substitutes Not Used: Darrin MacLeod, Dakota Barnathan, Robert Mirosavic, Mark Anthony Gonzalez
LA Galaxy II: Bennett Sneddon; Jake Arteaga, Ryo Fujii, Jean Engola, Leonardo Sepulveda; Alejandro Covarrubias ©, Andre Ulrich Zanga (Jorge Hernandez 61), Jonathan Hernandez (Alex Mendez 73); Adrian Vera, Ethan Zubak, Justin Dhillon (Jonathan Estrada 73)
Substitutes Not Used: Justin vom Steeg, Eric Lopez, Josh Turnley
Referee: Gustavo Solorio
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Kieso and Matthew Seem
Fourth Official: Kyle Armstrong
Attendance: 857
Weather: Partly cloudy and 64 degrees
