The Swope Park Rangers (9-9-7, 8th place) drew 3-3 with Reno 1868 FC (10-5-8, 6th place) in another thrilling match at Children’s Mercy Park amidst heavy rainfall on Sunday night. Tyler Blackwood would score two goals for the Rangers and notch an assist on Hadji Barry's equalizer in second half stoppage time to solidify the draw.
In the seventh minute, Barry would send a through ball to the center of the goal and Blackwood would put it away. In the eighth minute, Sporting KC loanee Eric Dick made a great diving save to keep the Rangers 1-0 lead.
Reno’s Antoine Hoppenot made an attempt in the 11th minute, but his shot would skim to the left of the goal post. Brian Brown of Reno would equalize the match in the 12th minute when he sent one past Dick.
Sporting KC loanne Gianluca Busio would take a left-footed shot from a Barry cross in the 24th minute, but the ball would sail to the left of the goal. Blackwood would score his second goal of the night in the 29th minute from the center of the box. SPR would lead 2-1 heading into the half.
While it rained the entire game, the second half saw the rain intensity increase and the intensity from Reno also increased. In the 55th minute, Barry would send another through ball to Blackwood in the center of the goal, but before Blackwood could get a foot on it a Reno defender was there to break up the action.
In the 64th minute, Brown would notch his second goal of the night and score for Reno off a ball from Zach Carroll. Blackwood would almost get a head on the ball to send it into the net in the 80th minute, but was unable to. Justin Bilyeu would also send a ball toward the goal in the 80th minute, but it would sail just wide of the post.
Reno 1868 FC’s Jerry van Ewijk would put one past Dick in the 82nd minute giving Reno their first lead of the match. Sporting KC loanee Amer Didic would take a cross from Busio in the 87th minute and would get a head on it, but the ball would miss to the left of the goal.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Blackwood would send a through ball to Barry and Barry would find the back of the net, equalizing the score at 3-3. The Rangers would pick up one point to take the season series against Reno 1868 FC after earning a 4-3 win in snowy conditions in the season opener.
The Rangers hit the road to Texas to play San Antonio FC (9-7-7, 8th place) on Saturday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. CT for a critical match in the hunt for a playoff position. The Rangers will then return home for a midweek game on Wednesday, August 29 at 7:30 p.m. CT to face the Tulsa Roughnecks at Children’s Mercy Park.
Notable Moment:
Tyler Blackwood would score two goals and have one assist on the evening. Blackwood would double his goals on the season, bringing his total to four and adding his first assist. The 27-year-old also had an impressive passing accuracy of 87% in a torrential downpour.
The rain did not phase SPR, who ended the night with a passing accuracy of 83.2%. Six Rangers had a passing accuracy of 80% or better:
- Amer Didic - 90.1%
- Jaylin Lindsey and Wan Kuzain – 88.6%
- Tyler Blackwood – 87%
- Dakota Barnathan – 85.4%
- Parker Maher – 80%
Swope Park Rangers vs Reno 1868 FC
August 19, 2018 – Children’s Mercy Park
Swope Park Rangers 3, Reno 1868 FC 3
Scoring Summary:
SPR – Tyler Blackwood 3 (Hadji Barry 5) – 7’
RNO – Brian Brown 9 (Brent Richards 3) – 12’
SPR – Tyler Blackwood 4 (Kharlton Belmar 4) – 29’
RNO – Brian Brown 11 (Zach Carroll 1) – 64’
RNO – Jerry van Ewijk 6 (Antoine Hoppenot 9) – 82’
SPR – Hadji Barry 9 (Tyler Blackwood 1) – 90’+3’
Misconduct Summary
SPR – Wan Kuzain (Yellow Card) - 20’
SPR – Kharlton Belmar (Yellow Card) 82’
Swope Park Rangers: Eric Dick; Jaylin Lindsey, Amer Didic ©, Dakota Barnathan, Justin Bilyeu (Parker Maher 80’); Wan Kuzain, Gianluca Busio, Felipe Hernandez (Rassambek Akhmatov 68’); Hadji Barry, Kharlton Belmar, Tyler Blackwood.
