Ten-man Swope Park Rangers (3-14-6, 15 points) suffered a 5-1 defeat to top-of-the-table New York Red Bulls II (16-5-5, 53 points) at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night. Sporting KC Academy product Wilson Harris scored the lone goal for the Rangers before Alexsander was shown a red card in the 25th minute, leaving the Rangers to play the final 65 minutes shorthanded.
The Red Bulls took the lead early on after the visitors were awarded a dubious corner kick, as the ball seemed to come off a New York player last. The corner ricocheted off Gianluca Busio and right into the path of Sean McSherry who finished from close range for his first professional goal.
The Rangers hit right back in the 13th minute when Busio made amends by intercepting the ball in midfield right into the path of Ze Pedro who quickly found Harris. The Academy striker showed incredible patience to wait for the right moment before slamming a low left-footed finish into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.
The home side almost took the lead in the 21st minute when two Academy products and Sporting KC loanees linked up to good effect as Wan Kuzain found Busio 20 yards out, but his rasping drive flew inches wide of the goal.
Four minutes later, the Rangers were reduced to 10 men when Alexsander was shown his second yellow card by referee Sergii Demianchuk after colliding with Kyle Duncan in the Red Bulls half while attempting to avoid contact.
The Red Bulls pressed forward and took the lead in the 40th minute when McSherry doubled his tally for the day as he found space in the area to head home Janos Loebe’s cross from the left wing and make the score 2-1.
The visitors added to their lead as the clock ticked into first-half stoppage time, as Chris Lema stepped in to block Kuzain’s attempted pass out of pressure, with the ball deflecting right into the path of Edgardo Rito who skipped past two challenges before unleashing a thunderous effort into the roof of the net from a tight angle to make the halftime score 3-1.
The Red Bulls came out with similar energy in the second half and Rito pounced on a short back pass by Medranda and rounded Zendejas but could only fire wide from a tight angle.
The visitors did find their fourth goal in the 51st minute as a cross from wide was mishandled by Kuzain, allowing Jared Stroud an open shot from six yards and he made no mistake for his 12th goal of the year.
Ze Pedro almost brought the Rangers back within two as he exchanged passes with Harris up front before striking a powerful attempt narrowly wide of the post in the 55th minute.
The Red Bulls almost made it five in the 71st minute when Omar Sowe was played through on goal, but Zendejas came off his line rapidly to block the substitute’s close-range effort. In the 76th minute, Jaylin Lindsey won a free kick on the right edge of the area, which Medranda stepped up to curl narrowly over the bar.
Zendejas was forced into another save in the 83rd minute when the Red Bulls were awarded one of many soft free kicks around the box, and Lema’s low effort was parried around the post by the Sporting KC goalkeeper.
The Red Bulls completed the scoring in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, as Loebe’s cross found substitute Amarildo at the far post who controlled the ball before lashing an unstoppable strike off the underside of the crossbar and in to make the final score 5-1.
The Rangers hit the road next weekend to take on Bethlehem Steel FC at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania on Sunday, Sept. 1 with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
2019 USL Championship
Game 23 of 34
Children’s Mercy Park | Kansas City, KS
Attendance: 498
Weather: 72 degrees and cloudy
<strong>Score</strong> |
<strong>1</strong> |
<strong>2</strong> |
<strong>F</strong> |
Swope Park Rangers (3-14-6, 15 points) |
1 |
0 |
1 |
New York Red Bulls II (16-5-5, 53 points) |
3 |
2 |
5 |
Swope Park Rangers: Adrian Zendejas (C); Jaylin Lindsey, Botond Barath, Kaveh Rad, Alexsander; Wan Kuzain, Felipe Hernandez, Gianluca Busio (Mark Segbers 46’); Ze Pedro (Ayyoub Allach 72’), Wilson Harris (Ethan Vanacore-Decker 77’), Jimmy Medranda
Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Rennico Clarke, Jake Davis, Tyler Freeman
New York Red Bulls II: Rashid Nuhu; Kyle Duncan, Preston Kilwien, Jordan Scarlett (Allen Yanes 56’), Edgardo Rito; Chris Lema (C), Kyle Zajec, Jared Stroud (Amarildo 75’); Janos Loebe, Mathias Jorgensen, Sean McSherry (Omar Sowe 66’)
Subs Not Used: Evan Louro, Sebastian Elney, Jean-Christophe Koffi, Ben Mines
Scoring Summary:
NY – Sean McSherry 1 (Unassisted) 7’
SPR – Wilson Harris 4 (Ze Pedro 1) 13’
NY – Sean McSherry 2 (Janos Loebe 5) 40’
NY – Edgardo Rito 2 (Chris Lema 6) 45’
NY – Jared Stroud 12 (Unassisted) 51’
NY – Amarildo 1 (Janos Loebe 6) 94+
Misconduct Summary:
SPR – Alexsander (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 15’
SPR – Alexsander (Yellow Card/Red Card; Unsporting Behavior) 25’
NY – Jordan Scarlett (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 47’
SPR – Felipe Hernandez (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 70’
NY – Omar Sowe (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 73’
NY – Kyle Duncan (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 75’
<strong>Stat</strong> |
<strong>SPR</strong> |
<strong>NY</strong> |
Shots |
6 |
29 |
Shots on Goal |
1 |
11 |
Saves |
6 |
0 |
Fouls |
14 |
15 |
Offsides |
4 |
1 |
Corner Kicks |
1 |
10 |
Referee: Sergii Demianchuk
Assistant Referee: Ryan Cook
Assistant Referee: Truman Berghall
Fourth Official: Matt Gaudreau
