Last Sunday proved to be a brisk fall afternoon as the Colorado Rapids faced off against the Kansas City Wizards (1-1-3) at Battery Park fields. Both teams were evenly matched in the first half, with good passing and defense.
Gavin Zinzell started off the action for the Rapids with a dribbler that got past the defense. Tyler Rohan, in goal for the Wizards, was able to scoop the ball, but as he brought it up overhead to throw it back into play, the ball got away from him and rolled into the goal. Not to be deterred, the Wizards’ Adrian Dillulio made three cutback moves inside the 18-yard box, and rifled a left-footed shot into the goal to tie the game at one.
The exciting play continued, with the Rapids’ defense (including Alexander Monticciolo, Maisie Fisher, Kyra Russo, Julia Udell and Anna Van Patten) kept the score tied at one in the first half. Mia Potter was outstanding as right fullback, shutting down forwards Ryan “Road Runner” Porcaro, Dillulio and Liam Fuerst several times. And Rohan made up for his mental lapse with a galactic save from 12 yards out of a rocket from the formidable Balthazar Merrin. Rohan was able to deflect it at the last millisecond, and it clanged heavily off the cross bar and bounced high in the air before he pounced on it.
In the second half, the Wizards played their best of the season, not only offensively, but also defensively. Douglass “Shep Messing” Stapler, now in goal for the Wizards, needed to make only two saves (compared to his usual double-digit count) due to the strong defense of Cameron Burger, Gabbi Rutherford, Julian Chow and Lucy Winokur.
Porcaro was all over the field, challenging each of the Rapids with his fast and accurate moves. Teammate Tyler Adams split the Rapids’ defense with a “through” ball, freeing Porcaro for a breakaway, but the “Boom-Boom” play was called offside. Fuerst made the team’s first “pigeon” goal of the year when his cross from the right corner of the penalty box sailed in to the top corner of the goal to move the Wizards ahead 2-1.
Rohan controlled the ball and passed to teammate Porcaro, who poked it in to bring the score to 3-1.
The Rapids worked hard to even the lead, but the great passing and heads-up play by the Wizards’ Jackson Kaufman, Graham Nelson and Dante Vega-Lamere, plus the defensive styles of Max Kong and Tommy Wu, kept them at bay. Nick Winokur took a corner kick from the side, and his beautiful cross between the 6 yard box and penalty line set up forward Ben Karam, whose header into the goal gave the Wizards their biggest lead of the year at 4-1. The last goal for the Wizards resulted in Porcaro surfacing from the scrum to score his second goal of his most energetic game this season. The final score was Wizards 5, Rapids 1.
