Greens Earn 1-1 Draw with Louisville City FC
September 12, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
OKC Energy FC News Release
Zach Ellis-Hayden scored his first goal for the club to help Energy FC to a 1-1 draw with division leaders Louisville City FC Sunday night at Taft Stadium.
The Greens went ahead in the 25th minute through a familiar setup man and an unfamiliar goalscorer. Villyan Bijev took on his defender down the left wing, created separation in the box and his effort on goal took a deflection towards the back post, finding Zach Ellis-Hayden, who went undetected with an empty-net finish for his first goal as an Energy FC player.
It looked as though the Greens would take the lead into the halftime break, but Louisville was able to find an equalizer in the fourth minute of what was supposed to be three minutes of added time. A cross from the right wing to the back post found Kyle Greig, who headed back across goal for Paolo DelPiccolo to finish from close range.
Chances were few and far between in the second half, with CJ Cochran having to make a couple of big saves to preserve the draw, most notably a stretching stop off former Green Kyle Greig in the 70th minute.
Energy FC moves to 30 points and back up to 4th place in the Central Division.
Next up is a trip to Birmingham Legion FC on Saturday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Greens return home to Taft Stadium on Sunday, September 26 at 5 p.m. CT against Indy Eleven. Tickets are available at energyfc.com/september26.
Scoring Summary:
OKC: Ellis-Hayden, 25'
LOU: DelPiccolo (Greig), 45'+4
Disciplinary Summary:
LOU: DelPiccolo (Yellow Card), 62'
LOU: Davis IV (Yellow Card), 63'
OKC: Batista (Yellow Card), 65'
OKC Starting XI: GK: CJ Cochran; D: Conor Donovan (c), Mitch Osmond, Lamar Batista; M: Zach Ellis-Hayden, Tucker Stephenson; Hiroki Kurimoto, Charlie Ward; F: Jaime Chavez, Aidan Daniels (Arun Basuljevic, 63'), Villyan Bijev
Subs not used: Sam Howard, Brad Dunwell, Jon Brown, Mueng Sunday, Kodai Iida, Deklan Wynne
LOU Starting XI: GK: Christopher Hubbard; D: Josh Wynder, Alexis Souahy. (Mbacke Thiam, 87') Sean Totsch, Jonathan Gomez; M: Napo Matsoso, Niall McCabe (Tyler Gibson, 68'), Paolo DelPiccolo (c) (Brian Ownby, 69'); George David IV (Antoine Hoppenot, 69'), Jorge Gonzalez, Kyle Greig (Akil Watts, 86')
Subs not used: Parker Siegfried, Jimmy McLaughlin
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