The Swope Park Rangers (12-6-6, 3rd place) will renew the club’s regional rivalry with OKC Energy FC (9-6-6, 7th place) at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.
Tickets for the Labor Day weekend match-up are available online at SeatGeek.com or at the venue box office prior to kick off and the first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a Hat Trick Harry bobblehead courtesy of Sky Zone KC as part of the festivities for Harry’s Birthday Bash. The game will also stream live on SportingKC.com and via the USLsoccer.com MatchCenter.
The Rangers will look to start September on the right foot after a winless month of August that began with four consecutive draws and ended last week with a 1-0 loss at Reno 1868 FC. Head coach Nikola Popovic will be without two regular contributors in James Musa (New Zealand) and Amer Didic (Canada) due to international duty, however SPR will be back home where the club is 7-2-2 this season and has been shut out only once.
Former USL Rookie of the Year Kharlton Belmar leads the team with nine goals this season, which are ninth most in the USL and ties Mark Anthony Gonzalez’s mark from 2016 for the most in a regular season campaign by an SPR player. On the opposite end of the field, Adrian Zendejas leads all Western Conference goalkeepers with 11 wins this season.
Zendejas is one of a dozen players currently on Sporting Kansas City’s roster to appear for the Rangers in 2017, six of whom have logged 17 or more USL appearances. Sporting KC are idle this weekend amidst a 19-day gap in games due to Hurricane Harvey forcing the postponement of a match with the Houston Dynamo on Aug, 26 and the FIFA window for international matches from Aug. 28-Sept. 5.
OKC Energy FC is led by former Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, who is the longest tenured coach in the USL’s Western Conference and has his team positioned for a third consecutive postseason berth. Nielsen recently signed former Welsh youth international Jonathan Brown to bolster an attack which also features goal scorers Jose Angulo (8 goals) and Alex Dixon (7 goals).
OKC Energy FC, a former USL affiliate of Sporting KC, won the first three match-ups with SPR in 2016 but the Rangers have responded with back-to-back victories in the series. The last meeting came in the 2017 season opener at Swope Soccer Village in which OKC tallied first on a goal from KC native Coady Andrews before the Rangers rallied for a 3-1 comeback victory.
Game 25
Date: Saturday, September 2, 2017
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. CT
Location: Swope Soccer Village (Kansas City, Mo.)
Swope Park Rangers: 12-6-6 (42 pts), 3rd in Western Conference
MLS Affiliate: Sporting Kansas City
OKC Energy FC: 9-6-6 (33 pts), 7th in Western Conference
MLS Affiliate: FC Dallas
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Live Stream: The game will be broadcast on SportingKC.com and YouTube.com/USL
Talent: Carter Augustine (play-by-play), Sam Kovzan (analyst)
SOCIAL TAGS
Game-specific hashtag: #SPRvOKC
Swope Park Rangers
Twitter: @SwopeRangers
Instagram: @SwopeParkRangers
OKC Energy FC
Twitter: @EnergyFC
Instagram: @EnergyFC
GAME NOTES
