Monterey Bay Uses Second Half Surge to Topple Roots SC in 2025 Home Opener at Cardinale Stadium

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USL Monterey Bay FC

Monterey Bay Uses Second Half Surge to Topple Roots SC in 2025 Home Opener at Cardinale Stadium

March 16, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Monterey Bay FC News Release


SEASIDE, California - Monterey Bay FC (1-1-0, 3 points) earned its third consecutive victory over Oakland Roots SC (0-2-0, 0 points) with a 3-2 win at Cardinale Stadium, presented by Cardinale Automotive Group. Mayele Malango, Ilijah Paul, and Anton Søjberg scored for the Crisp-and-Kelp in an electric second half to help Monterey Bay stay perfect in home openers, moving to 4-0-0 all-time since 2022. All three players recorded their debut goals for the club.

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An intense home opener at Cardinale Stadium kicked off to the familiar sound of beating drums in the Monterey Bay supporters section. In the 9th minute of the already chippy match, the hosts sent a long ball over the top towards Paul, but the Oakland defender managed to interrupt the headed attempt. A minute later, Adam Larsson sent a low cross into the six-yard box from the right side, but it was cleared behind for a corner, to no avail. Malango turned on the jets to round his defender in the 29th minute of the match, but his ball back across the box went untouched and the chance was missed. Oakland earned its first look at goal in the 40th minute after an interception in the Monterey Bay half of the pitch led to a shot from distance by EJ Johnson that forced a low save at the near post by Nico Campuzano. Four minutes later, Oakland cashed in on the opening score with a header by Camden Riley on the end of a set piece to give the visitors the 1-0 lead going into the halftime break.

A flip switched for Monterey Bay in the second half. In the 56th minute, Larsson played the ball to Malango just above the left corner of the 18-yard box. The powerful forward took a dribble to his left before immediately cutting back to his right and curling the ball past the goalkeeper and inside the far post to level the match for the hosts at one apiece. Nine minutes later, Xavi Gnaulati drew a penalty when he was chopped down inside the box. Paul stepped up to the spot, and buried it down the middle to give Monterey Bay FC the 2-1 lead. In the blink of an eye, Grant Robinson intercepted a pass and drove down the left sideline with a series of impeccable touches before floating a perfect ball into the box towards a wide open Søjberg. The Danish forward connected on the pass with a clinical header to extend the lead to 3-1, closing up a three goal, 13-minute rally to put the Crisp-and-Kelp in front for good. In the 84th minute, Joel Garcia Jr. was shown a straight red for hitting a Roots player with the ball in his attempt to clear, and the home side was left with 10 men for the remainder of the match. Despite seven additional minutes, Monterey Bay FC held on for an exciting 3-2 win over Oakland Roots SC.

Up Next

Monterey Bay begins 2025 U.S. Open Cup play with a midweek match in round one against UPSL side Inter San Francisco at Cardinale Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. PT with live streaming of the match available on the U.S. Soccer YouTube channel.

Additional Notes

Missing the match due to injury were Luther Archimède (lower body) and Diego Gutiérrez (lower body).

Information

Date: March 15, 2025

Venue: Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California

Weather: Clear and 53°F

Attendance: 5,160

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F

Monterey Bay FC 0 3 3

Oakland Roots SC 1 1 2

OAK: Camden Riley (Jose Sinisterra) 44'

MB: Mayele Malango (Adam Larsson) 56'

MB: Ilijah Paul (penalty) 65'

MB: Anton Søjberg (Grant Robinson) 69'

OAK: Jose Sinisterra (Peter Wilson) 71'

Lineups

Monterey Bay FC (4-1-3-2): Nico Campuzano; Grant Robinson, Jacob Muir, Nico Gordon, Joel Garcia Jr.; Wesley Fonguck (Pierce Gallaway, 63'); Mayele Malango (Carlos Guzmán, 85'), Anton Søjberg, Adrian Rebollar; Adam Larsson (Xavi Gnaulati, 63'), Ilijah Paul (Alex Dixon, 81')

Subs not used: Sam Gomez, Miles Lyons, Ethan Bryant

Oakland Roots SC (4-4-2): Kendall McIntosh; Justin Rasmussen (Baboucarr Njie, 84'), Kai Greene, Neveal Hackshaw, Camden Riley (Abdirizak Mohamed, 63'); Wolfgang Prentice (Jurgen Damm, 74'), Tyler Gibson, Daniel Gomez, Jose Sinisterra (Ilya Alekseev, 75'); EJ Johnson (Peter Wilson, 63'), Panos Armenakas

Subs not used: Timothy Syrel, Thomas Camier, Gagi Margvelashvili, Ali Elmasnaouy

Stats Summary: MB / OAK

Shots: 10 / 6

Shots on Goal: 5 / 3

Saves: 1 / 2

Corner Kicks: 4 / 1

Fouls: 17 / 16

Possession: 54.1% / 45.9%

Misconduct Summary

MB: Jacob Muir (caution) 43'

MB: Adam Larsson (caution) 45+1'

MB: Joel Garcia Jr. (dismissal) 84'

OAK: Daniel Gomez (caution) 84'

MB: Pierce Gallaway (caution) 85'

OAK: Abdirizak Mohamed (caution) 90+8'

Officials

Referee: Elijio Arreguin

Assistant Referee: Darren Bandy

Assistant Referee: Peter Hanson

Fourth Official: Robert Vincze

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