Fury FC Shows Fighting Spirit in 3-3 Draw in Rochester
March 10, 2016 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release
OTTAWA, ON - Down 3-1 late in Thursday's exhibition clash with the Rochester Rhinos, Ottawa Fury FC showed its fighting spirit, coming back to tie the match and maintain an unbeaten pre-season record with a 3-3 draw against the reigning USL Champions.
After falling behind - despite an early penalty kick goal by Paulo Junior for his third tally of the pre-season - Fury goalkeeper Andrew MacRae, who split duties with Romuald Peiser for the match, queued the comeback when he dove to turn away a Rochester penalty kick. The save, which came with Ottawa trailing 3-1, gave Fury momentum as Mozzi Gyorio would soon pull Fury to within one when he converted a pass from Carl Haworth after the third-year Fury forward had made a great play to intercept the ball with his head.
The equalizer came thanks to more hard work from Haworth, who fired the ball down the right flank to Academy product Jeff Addai, who in turn sent a perfect cross that Gerardo Bruna put past the Rhinos goalkeeper.
Steevan Humberto Fortes dos Santos, with two, and Christian Volesky scored for Rochester.
"I'm really pleased as the team was able to find a way to come back after being down 3-1," said head coach Paul Dalglish. "The attitude to keep going until the last minute was really pleasing. That desire, that mentality within the group to make sure we go home with something fills me with great pride."
Haworth heaped credit for the comeback on MacRae, who signed on Fury FC during the off-season after impressing during a pair of training stints with the club last season.
"We had a couple of bad giveaways early on, but the turning point was Andrew's penalty save," said Haworth. "It was a huge stop and it gave everyone a little more motivation and we were lucky enough to turn things around."
With the draw, Ottawa's pre-season record improves to 3-1-0 (W-D-L) heading into a date with FC Montreal at Olympic Stadium on March 19. The club will return to training at Gatineau's Complexe Branchaud-Briere on Monday.
Scoring Summary: (Note: the match was divided into four 30-minute quarters) OTT - Paulo Junior (2nd quarter)
OTT - Mozzi Gyorio (4th quarter)
OTT - Gerardo Bruna (4th quarter)
Starting XI:
Ottawa Fury FC 1st XI (4-3-3): Romuald Peiser; Lance Rozeboom, Rafael Alves, Kyle Venter, Fernando Timbo; Mozzi Gyorio, Julian de Guzman, Marcel de Jong; Dennis Chin, Paulo Junior , Kyle Porter
Ottawa Fury FC 2nd XI (4-3-3): Andrew MacRae; Zoom Langwa, Lance Rozeboom, Rich Balchan, Jeff Addai; Jonny Steele, Mauro Eustaquio, James Bailey, Brandon Poltronieri (Gyorio), Gerardo Bruna, Carl Haworth
Fans can renew or buy their 2016 Fury FC season tickets here and become part of a growing legion of fans that has helped make TD Place a fortress.
North American Soccer League Stories from March 10, 2016
- Fury FC Shows Fighting Spirit in 3-3 Draw in Rochester - Ottawa Fury FC
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