Fury Take Bite out of Big Apple with 4-1 Win over Cosmos
September 22, 2015 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release
Ottawa Fury FC Celebrate a Goal
(Ottawa Fury FC, Credit: New York Cosmos Communications)
HEMPSTEAD, NY (September 22, 2015) - It was a statement game from the second year club Tuesday night on Long Island as Fury FC produced arguably their best road game of the season with a 4-1 victory over the New York Cosmos. The win, Ottawa's first-ever against the NASL giants, builds Ottawa's lead atop the Fall Season standings to five points over Minnesota and pulls them to within one-point of New York in the combined standings. Paulo Junior scored a pair, Carlos Mendes had an own goal and Tom Heinemann netted his fifth of the season as Ottawa ended New York's 18-game home unbeaten streak.
"This was a fantastic performance against one of the best NASL teams," head coach Marc Dos Santos said following his clubs biggest win of the season.
"We played with great personality and with a lot of maturity. This group of players deserves a lot of credit, but at the end of the day we haven't won anything yet. We need to stay focused and well grounded as we still have a lot of work to do."
In a potential Soccer Bowl preview, the opening half between the Spring Season champs and the Fall Season leaders went as expected. There was little room to move in the midfield and everything was kept on the perimeter. It wasn't until after the half hour mark that the deadlock was finally broken. Richie Ryan's free-kick was headed across the face of goal by Colin Falvey into the path of Brazilian striker Paulo Junior who sent Fury FC into the lead in the 31st minute with his second goal of the season.
The goal didn't seem to influence the play of either side for the duration of the half and Ottawa would carry the one-goal lead into halftime.
New York couldn't have scripted their start to the second half any better. Two minutes into the second frame and the Cosmos pulled level on a goal by Andres Flores. Cosmos defender Ayoze jumped into the play and lofted a perfect cross into the box and Flores headed his third goal of the season past a diving Romuald Peiser to end his current shutout streak that had reach 321 minutes.
The second half surge from the Cosmos continued as New York had Fury FC pinned in their own half for the opening ten minutes. In the 55th minute Romuald Peiser made an incredible save off of Flores keeping the match level.
That save would prove vital for his side as Ottawa would march down the pitch and NASL Player of the Week Sinisa Ubiparipovic freed Paulo Junior inside the 18-yard box and he beat Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer from a difficult angle to restore the Fury FC lead with his second of the match.
Despite restoring their lead, New York would continue produce dangerous opportunities, but when the chances came Peiser was there. The Fury keeper made a massive save on Raul in the 63rd minute from 20 yards out and another critical save in the 77th minute.
Just as they did after Peiser's big stop on Flores, Ottawa would march down the field and score again, This time it was Tom Heinemann put in behind the defence from Ubiparipovic and his shot was deflected by Cosmos captain Carlos Mendes into his own goal to spot Fury FC a 3-1 lead. Just a minute late Ottawa would capitalize again. This time Heinemann made sure his name was on the score sheet as he made no mistake beating Maurer on another feed from Ubiparipovic to give
Ottawa a 4-1 lead and cement their impressive road performance.
The win is Ottawa's fifth straight on the road extending their road unbeaten streak to eight games.
Ottawa's three-match road trip concludes Saturday night in Carolina against the RailHawks. Fury FC will return home October 4 for another chapter in the All-Canadian derby facing FC Edmonton at 3pm. Tickets to this match and the final home match of the regular season (October 18) are available at OttawaFuryFC.com.
Images from this story
 Ottawa Fury FC Celebrate a Goal (New York Cosmos Communications) |
• Discuss this story on the North American Soccer League message board...
North American Soccer League Stories from September 22, 2015
- Fury Take Bite out of Big Apple with 4-1 Win over Cosmos - Ottawa Fury FC
- Pedro Named to Team of the Week, Nominated for Play of the Week - Atlanta Silverbacks
- Ubiparipovic and Richter Earn NASL Team of the Week Honours - Ottawa Fury FC
- Rowdies Prep for Playoff Push with Addition of Long Tan - Tampa Bay Rowdies
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
