TUCSON — FC Tucson couldn’t rally from an early deficit on Saturday night and lost to Ogden City SC 2-1 in the fourth straight meeting between the two clubs.
After picking up a 2-0 win over the Utah side on Friday, FC Tucson looked like it had quickly taken the lead again on Saturday when forward Damian German turned a rebound into the goal. But German was ruled offside and the score was negated.
Ogden City scored a legitimate goal a minute later. After FC Tucson turned the ball over deep in its own half, Ogden forward Skyler Milne found teammate Gui Leme on the edge of the six-yard box. Leme needed just one touch to fire a shot past Tucson goalkeeper Briley Guarneri and open the scoring.
“They were the ones that got the early goal tonight,” defender James McGhee said. “Then we didn’t really match their energy as opposed to last night when we came out and we were the aggressor and we had the best of the play for most of the game.”
Tucson, however, dominated play over the next 75 minutes. In the 23rd minute, midfielder Dalton Pando unleashed a curling free kick that glanced just wide of the goal. Three minutes later, he had another free-kick saved by Ogden goalkeeper Tyler Trump at full stretch. In the 38th minute, German tried to turn on a shot but sent his attempt wide of the net.
In the second half, FC Tucson midfielder Julian Gaona couldn't capitalize on a pair of terrific chances. Twice, Gaona got behind the Ogden City defense but missed the net with one shot and later couldn’t complete a dribble around Trump.
Ogden City scored against the pace of play in the 80th minute when Alex Neff dribbled around a Tucson defender and found Jarom Farnsworth in the middle of the box, who one-touched a shot into the goal.
Tucson midfielder Alejandro Gonzalez pulled one back in stoppage time, volleying a cross over Trump into the corner of the net to cut the deficit in half, but the team couldn’t complete the comeback and dropped to 3-2-0 in league play this season.
“We had a few chances to finish and just couldn’t put them away and it bites us at the end of the game,” Gonzalez said after the defeat.
In the loss, forward Tate Schmitt — ranked by PDL as the top prospect in the country — played the full 90 minutes in his second game back from injury and midfielder Yuki Tatsuma made his season debut, coming on as a sub in the 70th minute.
“We still need to build the chemistry,” McGhee said. “We still had a couple new guys come in this week. I think that’s the biggest thing and learning who we are as a team and who we want to be, both tactically and chemistry-wise.”
FC Tucson will resume its PDL schedule on Friday when it opens a two-game series at home against Colorado Pride U23. Tickets are available and can be purchased at www.fctucson.com.
TUCSON — FC Tucson couldn’t rally from an early deficit on Saturday night and lost to Ogden City SC 2-1 in the fourth straight meeting between the two clubs.
After picking up a 2-0 win over the Utah side on Friday, FC Tucson looked like it had quickly taken the lead again on Saturday when forward Damian German turned a rebound into the goal. But German was ruled offside and the score was negated.
Ogden City scored a legitimate goal a minute later. After FC Tucson turned the ball over deep in its own half, Ogden forward Skyler Milne found teammate Gui Leme on the edge of the six-yard box. Leme needed just one touch to fire a shot past Tucson goalkeeper Briley Guarneri and open the scoring.
“They were the ones that got the early goal tonight,” defender James McGhee said. “Then we didn’t really match their energy as opposed to last night when we came out and we were the aggressor and we had the best of the play for most of the game.”
Tucson, however, dominated play over the next 75 minutes. In the 23rd minute, midfielder Dalton Pando unleashed a curling free kick that glanced just wide of the goal. Three minutes later, he had another free-kick saved by Ogden goalkeeper Tyler Trump at full stretch. In the 38th minute, German tried to turn on a shot but sent his attempt wide of the net.
In the second half, FC Tucson midfielder Julian Gaona couldn’t capitalize on a pair of terrific chances. Twice, Gaona got behind the Ogden City defense but missed the net with one shot and later couldn’t complete a dribble around Trump.
Ogden City scored against the pace of play in the 80th minute when Alex Neff dribbled around a Tucson defender and found Jarom Farnsworth in the middle of the box, who one-touched a shot into the goal.
Tucson midfielder Alejandro Gonzalez pulled one back in stoppage time, volleying a cross over Trump into the corner of the net to cut the deficit in half, but the team couldn’t complete the comeback and dropped to 3-2-0 in league play this season.
“We had a few chances to finish and just couldn’t put them away and it bites us at the end of the game,” Gonzalez said after the defeat.
In the loss, forward Tate Schmitt — ranked by PDL as the top prospect in the country — played the full 90 minutes in his second game back from injury and midfielder Yuki Tatsuma made his season debut, coming on as a sub in the 70th minute.
“We still need to build the chemistry,” McGhee said. “We still had a couple new guys come in this week. I think that’s the biggest thing and learning who we are as a team and who we want to be, both tactically and chemistry-wise.”
FC Tucson will resume its PDL schedule on Friday when it opens a two-game series at home against Colorado Pride U23. Tickets are available and can be purchased at www.fctucson.com.
