HARRISON, N.Y. — Red Bulls II opened its United Soccer League campaign with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Toronto FC II at Red Bull Arena Saturday afternoon.

The win marked the first time in the team’s four-year history that NYRB II won its season opener.

Andrew Tinari, who entered the match with two career goals, tallied twice within a 10-minute span to turn the game around for the hosts before a crowd of 717.

In the 11th minute, TFC II opened the scoring as Matthew Srbely snuck behind the New York defense for the opening goal.

In the 50th minute, Tommy Redding conceded a penalty kick in the box but goalkeeper Evan Louro denied Ben Spencer the opportunity to double TFC’s lead, making a diving save to his right.

In the 62nd minute, NYRB II equalized coming from Tinari, who redirected a Ben Mines shot from outside the 18.

On the way to 31 shots, NYRB II did not stop there, finding the game-winning goal in the 72nd minute. This time Tinari finished a perfectly placed ball from Florian Valot across the face of goal.

NYRB II players Kevin Politz, Brian White, Steven Echevarria, Niko De Vera and Cristian Casseres, Jr. made their USL pro debuts in the match.

Scoring Summary:
TOR – Matthew Srbely (Liam Fraser) 11′
NY – Andrew Tinari (Ben Mines) 62′
NY – Andrew Tinari (Florian Valot) 72′
Misconduct Summary:
TOR – Kyle Bjornethun (caution) 7′
NY – Steven Echevarria (caution) 28′
NY – Tommy Redding (caution) 50′
TOR – Matthew Srbely (caution) 58′
TOR – Aikim Andrews (caution) 76′
TOR – Liam Fraser (caution) 90’+2
NYRBII: Evan Louro; Niko De Vera, Hassan Ndam (Kevin Politz, 54th minute), Jordan Scarlett, Tommy Redding, Ethan Kutler, Steven Echevarria, Andrew Tinari, Florian Valot ©(Stefano Bonomo, 73rd minute), Ben Mines, Brian White (Cristian Casseres, Jr., 83rdminute)
TOTAL SHOTS: 31; SHOTS ON GOAL:11; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 3
TFCII: Angelo Cavalluzzo; Tim Kübel (Aikim Andrews 67′), Robert Boskovic, Rocco Romeo (Shaan Hundal 82′), Kyle Bjornethun; Liam Fraser ©, Matthew Srbely (Malik Johnson 72′), Luca Uccello, Aidan Daniels; Ryan Telfer, Ben Spencer
TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 9
Attendance: 717

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.