MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Red Bulls II extended their unbeaten streak to five Saturday, defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies at MSU Soccer Park Saturday.
The United Soccer League match marked the second consecutive four-goal performance at MSU for NYRB II after having none prior to this season.
NYRB (10-11-5, 35 points) moved back into playoff positioning jumping into seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Rowdies (38 points) fell to 19-8-7.
Andrew Tinari opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a line drive that left Rowdies keeper Matt Pickens frozen as it hit the back of the net. The goal was Tinari’s second in as many games.
Tampa Bay equalized three minutes later off a set piece that saw Martin Paterson put it past goalkeeper Ryan Meara.
Just before halftime, Noah Powder curled a free kick around the wall to give NYRB II a 2-1 lead. It was also Powder’s first of the season.
Nine minutes into the second half, Junior Flemmings laid a perfect pass to the foot of Florian Valot, who buried it home for an easy tap-in.
Former Cosmos’ Hunter Gorskie pulled one back for Tampa Bay off another set piece miscommunication in the 77th minute but NYRB II responded with Flemmings being the recipient of a Powder pass that Flemmings slotted past Pickens.
New York heads back out on the road next week to Toronto, Cananda to face TFC II at BMO Field Saturday for an 8 p.m. ET kickoff.
Scoring summary:
New York: Meara; Powder, Ndam, Scarlett, Najem, Tinari, Shigenobu, Valot, Lewis (Douglas Martinez, 67th minute), Bonomo (David Abidor, 87th minute), Flemmings (Ben Mines, 90th minute)
Tampa Bay: Pickens; Porter, Gorskie, Collins, Portillos, Vingaard (Michael Nanchoff, 68th minute), Schafer, Cole, Restrepo (Sebastian Guenzatti, 58th minute), Paterson. Hristov (Alex Morrell, (60th minute)
Scoring:
New York: Andrew Tinari 2 (Florian Valot) 17th minute, Noah Powder 1 (unassisted) 41st minute, Florian Valot 3 (Flemmings) 54th minute, Flemmings 8 (Noah Powder) 83rd minute
Tampa Bay: Martin Paterson 20th minute, Hunter Gorskie 77th minute
Discipline:
New York:
Tampa Bay: Georgi Hrsitov 5th minute, Kyle Porter 60th minute, Neil Collins 63rd minute
