The Swope Park Rangers (3-1-1, 10 points) drew San Antonio FC (1-1-2, 5 points) at Toyota Field on Saturday night. Sporting KC loanee Kharlton Belmar continues to be the USL leading goal scorer as he notched his fifth goal of the 2018 USL season tonight.
In the 12th minute, SKC Academy product Felipe Hernandez took a left-footed shot from way outside the box, but the ball went just right of the far post. Hernandez won a duel in the 19th minute and was able to turn the ball toward the goal, but San Antonio keeper Diego Restrepo was there to scoop up the opportunity.
Belmar netted his fifth goal of the season in the 29th minute off a beautiful passing sequence. Sporting KC loanee Amer Didic passed the ball to Hernandez, who made a great diving touch to prevent San Antonio from winning the ball back. Off of Hernandez’s touch, Sporting KC loanee Colton Storm passed to Belmar, who dodged two defenders and put it past Restrepo to put the Rangers ahead 1-0.
In the 32nd minute, emotions started to run high as two SPR players and one San Antonio player were shown yellow cards. Quickly following the cards in the 33rd minute, San Antonio’s Pecka took a right-footed shot from outside the box and found the top left corner of the SPR goal to knot the score at 1-1.
After the half, San Antonio had two chances: one in the 47th minute and the other in the 53rd minute, but Sporting KC loanee Eric Dick made two spectacular saves to keep the score even.
Belmar had a great left-footed chance in the 55th minute off a cross by Chase Minter, but his shot went off target.
San Antonio had another close call in the 61st minute when Ever Guzman took a shot from the center of the box, but the attempt sailed over the crossbar. Neither side would be able to unknot the tie and would both settle for the draw and one point apiece.
SPR returns home to play OKC Energy FC (1-4-0, 3 points) on Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Shawnee Mission South District Stadium. Tickets are available online at SeatGeek.com and the first 500 fans in attendance will receive an SPR champions t-shirt to commemorate the club's Western Conference title in 2017.
Swope Park Rangers vs San Antonio FC
April 7, 2018 – Toyota Field
Swope Park Rangers 1, San Antonio FC 1
Scoring Summary:
SPR – Kharlton Belmar 5 (Colton Storm 2) – 29’
SA – Pecka 1 (Ever Guzman 1) – 33’
Misconduct Summary:
SPR – Amer Didic (Yellow Card) – 32’
SA – Darnell King (Yellow Card) – 32’
SPR – Hadji Barry (Yellow Card) – 32’
SPR – Colton Storm (Yellow Card) – 34’
SPR – Felipe Hernandez (Yellow Card) – 85’
SPR – Matheus Silva (Yellow Card) – 88’
Swope Park Rangers: Eric Dick; Colton Storm; Americ Didic ©; Graham Smith; Parker Maher; Matheus Silva; Felipe Hernandez; Gianluca Busio (Rodrigo Saravia 68’); Chase Minter (Tyler Blackwood 78’); Hadji Barry (Camilo Benitez 90’+3’); Kharlton Belmar.
