Recap: Sporting KC II falls 1-0 at OKC Energy FC

Sporting Kansas City II (1-6-4, 7 points) fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat on the road at OKC Energy FC (2-4-4, 10 points) on Wednesday night at Taft Stadium in Oklahoma. Villyan Bijev scored the only goal of the game on the stroke of halftime when he fired home the rebound after his penalty was saved by Brooks Thompson.

Both sides enjoyed several openings in the first half, as first Tyler Freeman freed Rojay Smith into the OKC penalty area but his shot was smothered by C.J. Cochran. Later In the half, Freeman’s corner found Petar Cuic at the far post and the Croatian fired narrowly wide of the target.

Sporting KC Homegrown goalkeeper Thompson enjoyed a strong performance, as moments after denying Frank Lopez in a one-on-one situation, he was called into action as OKC earned a penalty kick. The referee pointed to the spot after harshly adjudging Christian Duke to have handled the ball inside the area, despite his arm being tucked into his body as the ball was rifled at him from close range by Graham Smith.

Thompson saved Bijev’s penalty kick, but the OKC forward quickly pounced on the rebound and fired into the back of the net to give his side a halftime lead.

Sporting II and OKC exchanged multiple chances in the second half as Rojay Smith and Aljaz Dzankic each went close to an equalizer, while Lopez fired high and wide when through on goal for OKC at the other end as Sporting II slipped to a 1-0 loss.

Sporting II remains on the road this week when the team heads East to take on Memphis 901 FC at AutoZone Park on Saturday, June 26. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

2021 USL Championship
Game 11 of 34
Taft Stadium | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Weather: Sunny and 86 degrees

Sporting Kansas City II: Brooks Thompson; Kayden Pierre, Graham Smith, Aljaz Dzankic, Danny Barbir; Petar Cuic (Coby Jones 84’), Christian Duke (C), Jake Davis (Dominik Resetar 75’); Rojay Smith, Tyler Freeman (Ozzie Cisneros 83’), Enoch Mushagalusa*
Subs Not Used: *Max Trejo, Matt Constant, Michael Lenis, Jahon Rad

OKC Energy FC: C.J. Cochran; Zachary Ellis-Hayden, Conor Donovan (C), Mitch Osmond, Sam Rogers; Arun Basuljevic, Hiroki Kurimoto, Charlie Ward (Brad Dunwell 80’), Aidan Daniels (Jonathan Brown 91+); Villyan Bijev (Tucker Stephenson 70’), Frank Lopez (Jaime Chaves 80’)*
Subs Not Used:* Kyle Ihn, Sam Howard, Muengnenshime Goshit

Scoring Summary:

OKC – Villyan Bijev (Unassisted) 46+

Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Danny Barbir (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 90’
OKC – Zachary Ellis-Hayden (Yellow Card; Time Wasting) 94+

Referee: Greg Dopka*
Assistant Referee: Nicholas BalcerAssistant Referee:* Natt Geringer*
Fourth Official: *Connor Stockton