Monterey Bay Comes Back to Beat Lexington SC, 2-1, in Seaside

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USL Monterey Bay FC

Monterey Bay Comes Back to Beat Lexington SC, 2-1, in Seaside

June 7, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Monterey Bay FC News Release


SEASIDE, California - Monterey Bay FC (5-4-4, 19 points) came back from a goal down to win 2-1 over Western Conference foes Lexington SC (1-6-5, 8 points) at Cardinale Stadium. Adam Larsson scored his first USL Championship goal and his second in as many weeks in all competitions in the first half. Then, Anton Søjberg got back onto the scoresheet in his own right, converting the eventual game-winning penalty late in the match.

The visitors landed the first blow just six minutes into the match when Nick Firmino curled the ball inside the left post on a free kick outside the box to give Lexington SC the very early 1-0 lead. In the 20th minute, Monterey Bay responded with an equalizer. After a brief scramble in the box at the end of a Lexington SC free kick, the Crisp-and-Kelp were off to the races on the other end. With Lexington SC caught in a two-on-one, Alex Dixon perfectly drew the defender in before playing a nicely weighted through ball to Larsson, who then drove down the pitch with the defender on his back before rounding the keeping and burying the ball into the back of the net to level the score. Monterey Bay closed the half with a flurry of pressure inside the box, but Lexington SC managed to clear back-to-back crosses into the mixer and the half ended square at 1-1.

Monterey Bay earned a free kick right out of the gates of the second half, but the shot by Søjberg was saved by the goalkeeper at the right post. Lexington came right back with a shot of their own in the 48th minute, but Michael Adedokun's grass-burning shot was saved by Nico Campuzano at the bottom corner. The Seasiders saw some build up play develop nicely in the 50th minute, but the low cross back into the box after a switch to Adrian Rebollar was blocked. Monterey Bay pushed again in the 55th minute with a ball into Ilijah Paul at the center of the box. Surrounded by defenders, Paul looked to find Larsson to his left, but the pass was knocked away for a corner kick. The hosts went right back to Paul on the ensuing corner, but his header was mishit and the goalkeeper managed to collect it. A minute later, Paul drove down the left sideline, beating his defender with a series of nifty moves before whipping the ball into the box towards Larsson, but the cross was blocked away for a fruitless corner.

Then in the 74th minute, super sub Mayele Malango executed a powerful run, blowing past his defender into acres of space near the endline. Malango then crossed the ball into the box, but the defender knocked it down with his hand and the ref pointed to the spot to award Monterey Bay with a penalty. Stepping up to the spot with his final touch of the match, Søjberg buried the ball into the left side netting to complete the comeback and give the Crisp-and-Kelp the 2-1 lead.

Five minutes later, Malango drove with pace down the left sideline once again before rounding his defender and playing yet another ball into the box towards Paul, but Paul was unable to bring it in cleanly and the chance went awry. Minutes later, the Crisp-and-Kelp attacked on the left side of the box once again. This time it was Larsson, but his curling effort missed wide of the far post. Paul looked to have a third for Monterey Bay in the 86th minute on the end of a great ball in from Sami Guediri, but Paul was ruled to be in an offside position and the match ended 2-1 in favor of the Seasiders.

Up Next

Monterey Bay heads to Las Vegas to take on Lights FC at Cashman Field on Saturday, June 14. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live streaming available on CBS Sports Golazo Network via Paramount+, the CBS Sports app, CBSSports.com, and Pluto TV.

Additional Notes

Team captain Nico Gordon is currently on international duty with Montserrat participating in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and was unavailable for selection in the match.

Missing the match due to injury were Luther Archimède (lower body), Joel Garcia Jr. (lower body), and Alex Lara (lower body).

Information

Date: June 7, 2025

Venue: Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California

Weather: Partly cloudy and 61°F

Attendance: 2,420

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F

Monterey Bay FC 1 1 2

Lexington SC 1 0 1

LEX: Nick Firmino 6'

MB: Adam Larsson (Alex Dixon) 20'

MB: Anton Søjberg (penalty) 75'

Lineups

Monterey Bay FC (4-1-3-2): Nico Campuzano; Sami Guediri, Carlos Guzmán, Jacob Muir, Miles Lyons; Wesley Fonguck; Alex Dixon (Luke Ivanovic, 76'), Anton Søjberg (Xavi Gnaulati, 76'), Adrian Rebollar (Mayele Malango, 67'); Adam Larsson, Ilijah Paul (Pierce Gallaway, 88')

Subs not used: Sam Gomez, Grant Robinson, Mobi Fehr

Lexington SC (4-4-2): Brooks Thompson; Kendall Burks, Joe Hafferty, Xavier Zengue (Michael Adedokun, 45'), Kieran Sargeant; Sofiane Djeffal, Nick Firmino, Alfredo Midence, Devon Williams; Marcus Epps, Forster Ajago

Subs not used: Danny Barbir, Daniel Wu, Jacob Greene, Gael Gibert, Edrey Caceres, Hugo Mbongue

Stats Summary: MB / LEX

Shots: 10 / 12

Shots on Goal: 5 / 3

Saves: 2 / 3

Corner Kicks: 3 / 12

Fouls: 16 / 17

Possession: 43.3% / 56.7%

Misconduct Summary

MB: Jacob Muir (caution) 6'

LEX: Nick Firmino (caution) 14'

LEX: Sofiane Djeffal (caution) 30'

MB: Adrian Rebollar (caution) 37'

LEX: Marcus Epps (caution) 54'

MB: Ilijah Paul (caution) 85'

LEX: Joe Hafferty (caution) 89'

Officials

Referee: Mark Verso

Assistant Referee: Christian Clerc

Assistant Referee: Andrew Hanks

Fourth Official: James Ewer

Check out the Monterey Bay FC Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from June 7, 2025


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