USL New York Red Bulls II

New York Red Bulls II Knots Toronto FC II in Opener 2-2

Published on March 26, 2016 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
New York Red Bulls II News Release


HARRISON, N.J. (March 26, 2016) - New York Red Bulls II opened the 2016 USL season with a draw at Red Bull Arena against Toronto FC II, 2-2. Raheem Edwards and Skylar Thomas put Toronto ahead in the first half, only to be cancelled out by Brandon Allen who scored two goals in the second half to preserve a point for New York.

With the result, New York opened the USL season with a draw for the second consecutive year.

New York started the game pressing high and caused problems early for Toronto. New York's first chance came in the 19th minute when Alex Muyl collected the ball at the corner of the six-yard box. He fired, aiming high for the near corner, but missed and the shot went high.

New York's best chance came in the 32nd minute when Davis sent in an inswinging ball on a free kick. Aaron Long rose above the crowd and got a head to it, but his attempt flew just wide.

Toronto got on the board first in the 35th minute when Mo Babouli cut a low cross from the endline in front of goal, where Edwards finished to put the visitors ahead.

TFC II doubled their lead seconds prior to halftime when Thomas chipped in from a tight angle.

In the second half, Homegrown forward Allen took over for New York. Derrick Etienne Jr. was brought down in the box and earned a penalty kick in the 65th minute. Allen stepped up and although his shot was initially saved, he collected the rebound and scored to cut the deficit to one.

Four minutes later, Sean Davis fed Allen in the box who fired his shot towards the near post. The projectile took a deflection off a Toronto defender and beat the keeper to tie the game and earn New York one point to start the season.

New York Red Bulls II will be back in action next weekend when they travel south to take on Louisville City FC on Saturday, April 2.

Scoring Summary (Assist in parenthesis):

TOR: Raheem Edwards (Mo Babouli)

TOR: Skylar Thomas (Brian James)

NY: Brandon Allen

NY: Brandon Allen (Sean Davis)

Discipline Summary:

NY: Noah Powder, Caution 38'

TOR: Skylar Thomas, Caution 62'

NY: Stefano Bonomo, Caution 88'

Lineups:

NY: Ryan Meara, Noah Powder, Tim Schmoll (Speedy Williams, 62'), Zach Carroll (Mason Deeds, 89'), Aaron Long, Tyler Adams, Sean Davis, Derrick Etienne Jr., Alex Muyl (Vincent Bezecourt, 58'), Brandon Allen, Stefano Bonomo

Subs not used: Rafael Diaz, Dan Metzger, Junior Flemmings

TOR: Alex Bono, Mark Bloom, Mitch Taintor, Skylar Thomas, Anthony Osorio, Chris Mannella, Brian James (Adam Bouchard, 90+'), Aidan Daniels (Malik Johnson, 78'), Molham Babouli, Raheem Edwards, Sal Bernal (Martin Davis, 74')

Subs not used: Phillip Boerger, Andrew Dias, Steven Furlano, Richie Ennin

New York Red Bulls II Quote Sheet

New York Red Bulls II Head Coach John Wolyniec

On the first half:

Yeah, it was really deflating. That's sometimes one of the harder talks to give to a team, especially when you take a goal, what, 30 seconds before halftime, and to make it two, especially. I felt like we were doing a lot of good things, I think we started the game OK and then gradually started to really get a grip on the game. Had a few chances, a few good chances to take a lead, and then I think there's a mental thing that happens after you miss a few chances that you just kind of like, start to expect the worst, and then all of a sudden the ball winds up in your own net.

On Brandon Allen:

You always like a guy that scores goals, and he seems to be scoring goals. Hopefully it continues, we've known Brandon for a long time, I was with the academy when he was with our U-18s. He just finds ways, sometimes you don't even know how, but he just finds ways to put the ball in the back of the net. I guess he's just one of those guys that has that innate sense of where the ball is going to be, and how to get it to where it needs to be.

On energy in the second half:

I think it's a combination of things, one, first game, little bit of jitters and excitement, and then 30 minutes in you're flying around, getting good chances, and then by the 35th minute you start to say "woah, this is a real game." I think that kind of came into play a little bit. I think when you miss chances, like I said before, mentally speaking, it starts to take its toll, and then you kind of drop your play a bit.

And sometimes it's natural, it's hard to keep up a high pace for 45 minutes straight. In the second half I thought we came out okay, we got a shot on goal within 30 seconds, so our energy was OK in the second half, maybe it wasn't perfect, but first game of the year, the guys aren't fully ready for 90 minutes of output so, in that sense, I was pretty happy with the energy overall.

New York Red Bulls II Forward Brandon Allen

On scoring in professional debut:

Obviously it's very exciting, but I have to my hats off to Derrick [Etienne Jr.] for earning the PK, and I think he helped me get my momentum for the second goal, so overall I thought it was good to come out with the tie. We'll work out the rest in training, and we're looking forward to the next game for sure.

On coming into the season in good form:

Yeah, definitely. It's definitely always good to start off preseason with two goals, so coming in I felt pretty good, and it's good to come out with a tie, but hopefully next time we get the "W."

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