North Carolina FC 5 – 0 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Cary, NC—We have now reached the point in the USL Championship season when points take on greater importance and coaches are watching to see if their players can put in a consistent 90-minute shift. North Carolina FC head coach Dave Sarachan liked what he saw from his club Saturday night as they dismantled the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 5-0, calling his team’s performance, “professional” in his post-game remarks.
NCFC midfielder Dre Fortune celebrates his penalty kick goal with teammate Nazmi Albadawi.
Pittsburgh was riding a five-game hot streak that began on July 20th with their 1-0 win over North Carolina. Their most recent win was a 2-1 victory over the conference-leading New York Red Bulls II last Wednesday. They came into Sahlen’s Stadium on short rest and tired legs, but they held their own against the Dead Whales. Play was open with chances both ways throughout the first half. The two sides looked like they were going into halftime deadlocked at zero.
That suddenly changed in first half stoppage time when NCFC midfielder Dre Fortune broke through Pittsburgh’s defense and was in on goal against Kyle Morton. Thomas Vancaeyezeele clipped Fortune in the penalty area. Referee Jon Freemon immediately pointed to the penalty spot and then pulled the red card out of his pocket. Fortune converted the penalty and instead of going to the locker room tied, the Riverhounds found themselves down a goal and a man.
Consistency has been an issue for North Carolina this season. How they would come out in the second half would be a measure of how well they’ve absorbed the lessons of past inconsistent performances. They answered that question five minutes later when Fortune aired out a cross into the penalty area. Donovan Ewolo surfed the high tide and nodded the ball past Morton to double the home team’s lead.
In the 55th minute, Ewolo brought the ball downfield and tried to switch the attack with a cross but Kenardo Forbes deflected it with his arm in the penalty area. Forbes was shown a yellow card and Morton was about to face another penalty kick. This time Ewolo took the spot kick. Morton got down to make the save but the ball rebounded back to Ewolo who made no mistake with a hard left-footed shot. Fifty-seven minutes into the game, the rout was on.
Two minutes later, Steven Miller carried the ball down the left flank and lobbed a cross right to Fortune, who was making his run into the penalty area. Fortune settled the ball and angled a shot through Ryan James’s wickets and out of Morton’s reach to put NCFC up 4-0.
To their credit, the Riverhounds stayed in the game and put together some promising combination plays through midfield, but the Dead Whales were focusing on keeping a clean sheet for goalkeeper Alex Tambakis.
With a little over 15 minutes to go in the game, Fortune and Nazmi Albadawi made a give-and-go play through midfield and Albadawi slipped a ground ball to Kristo who drove the ball near-post to close out the scoring on the night.
When Freemon blew the final whistle, North Carolina had completed the club’s most impressive win this season.
Final Notes
- With the win over Pittsburgh, North Carolina moves into 5th place in the eastern conference standings.
- Veteran midfielder Austin da Luz announced that he will retire at the end of this season.
- Next up for NCFC is a short rest before they take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies Wednesday night and head to Louisville next Saturday.
Lineups
North Carolina FC: A. Tambakis; A. Guillen, S. Brotherton, A. Comsia, DJ Taylor; N. Albadawi, G. Smith (A. da Luz, 83’); S. Miller © (M. Perez, 64’), D. Fortune, J. Rennicks (R. Kristo, 69’); D. Ewolo
Pittsburgh Riverhounds: K. Morton; R. James (U. Uzo, 75’), T. Adewole, T. Vancaeyezeele, J. Greenspan, N. Franke (S. Kahsai, 83’); M. Dabo, K. Forbes © (R. Mertz, 63’), A. Velarde; S. Dos Santos, C. Volesky
Score:
North Carolina FC: 5
Pittsburgh Riverhounds: 0
Goals:
NCFC: D. Fortune (45+1’, penalty kick); D. Ewolo (50’, D. Fortune); D. Ewolo (57’, unassisted); D. Fortune (59’, S. Miller); R. Kristo (75’, N. Albadawi)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds: none
Discipline
North Carolina FC: A. Comsia, YC 26’; G. Smith, YC 53’
Pittsburgh Riverhounds: T. Vancaeyezelle, RC 44’; K. Forbes, YC, 56’; R. James, YC 69’
Attendance: 3,108
Photo gallery: North Carolina FC v Pittsburgh Riverhounds
All photos by Victoria Klum.
