Among Thursday’s slate of matches were a couple of 2-1 games on rain-soaked and muddy fields at Grand Park. Things dried up a bit before the second round of matches, but the competition intensified.

Empire Revolution 2 – 1 Santa Cruz Breakers Academy

One team was ready for the sloppy conditions Thursday morning and the other wasn’t. For Empire Revolution, as soon as Vincent Cancilla got tackled and slid over 10 feet in the near-mud, it was game on.

The first 30 minutes saw the Revolution run wild over Santa Cruz. Each time the Santa Cruz defense managed to hold up, they were back on their heels after a bad attempt to clear the ball or losing possession near midfield. On the rare occasion they managed an attack of their own, the Revolution quickly countered.

It was just 10 minutes in when the Revolution got on the board. Jacob Kohlbrenner received a pass facing away from the goal with a defender on his back. He quickly turned to his right and hooked a shot around the defender and past the goalkeeper toward the right post.

Just two minutes later, on a free kick from their own side, Alex Cancilla got behind the defense and Kohlbrenner found him. With only the goalkeeper in front of him, Cancilla chipped it over him, but the shot missed just wide right.

Possession started to even out at the end of the first half and into the second, but the Revolution added to their lead with a penalty kick in the 68^th minute.

Santa Cruz finally answered in the 79^th minute. Ulises Gonzales took a desperation shot from 30 yards out and the goalkeeper blocked it with both hands, but the spin on the ball caused it to take unexpected bounce back towards the goal and in before the goalkeeper could grab it. Unfortunately Santa Cruz was a little too late and came up short one goal.

 

San Juan Soccer Club 2 – 1 Minnesota Thunder Academy

The field condition improved a bit for the second round of matches leading to a quite a bit more drama and some theatrics to boot.

Minnesota got on the board first with a set piece goal in the 20^th minute. Lionel Vang set up from just outside the 18-yard box a little left of center. He curled the ball over the wall and towards the right post out of reach from the goalkeeper.

Outside of the direct kick, both teams totaled just two shots on goal in a high-intensity but offensively slow first half.

Things went up a notch quickly in the second half when Benjamin Santos-Meeker took an apparent hit to the face from Seamus McLaughlin in the 54^th minute. McLaughlin was given a straight red card and San Juan now faced a 1-0 deficit playing a man down.

Santos-Meeker drew another foul five minutes later for another yellow card against a San Juan player. It was the third booking for San Juan for a foul on him.

In combination with all of the cards, leading 1-0 and playing a man up, it seemed Minnesota players thought they could milk the clock all the way down since players continued to hit the ground, clutching their legs and yelling. The referee wizened up to the act though.

Unlike Minnesota, San Juan’s situation caused them to play with nothing to lose. They shifted into a 4-4-1 formation after the red card and scored just nine minutes later. Omari Fontes took a long shot from the left side that would have been an easy save, yet the goalkeeper opted to punch the ball back out rather than catch it. Samuel Dadzie gained control of the ball on the rebound and scored from inside 10 yards.

Just five minutes later, Joel Tomlinson received a pass along the right sideline, crossed it into Ivan Gutierrez near the top of the 6-yard box and Gutierrez headed it in for a 2-1 lead.

Trying to tie the game back up, Martin DeLeon chased a ball into the box in the 75^th minute, but the goalkeeper beat him to it, catching DeLeon’s feet and tripping him in the process. Like his teammates earlier in the game, he went down clutching his leg trying to coax a penalty kick from the referee. After several minutes on the ground and no fouls given, DeLeon hopped back up and the game continued.

Minnesota had one final good opportunity to tie in the 82^nd minute. DeLeon found Suad Suljic running down the center of the field. Suljic chipped the ball over the defender in front of him to Isaac Friendt with only the goalkeeper to beat, but he beat Friendt to the ball.

San Juan held on and secured a 2-1 win after trailing in the second half while playing a man down.