North Carolina FC Earns Season Split With Eastern Conference Foe After Clean Sheet Win Tuesday Night
May 14, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
North Carolina FC News Release
CARY, N.C. - North Carolina FC defeated Loudoun United FC, 2-0, Tuesday night at WakeMed Soccer Park. NCFC improved to 2-4-4 and 10 points on the season, earning their fourth clean sheet of the year.
North Carolina FC showed some magic for a goal to take the lead midway through the first half. Rafa Mentzingen whipped a ball in from the right flank for Paco Craig to volley home on a half spin for his first goal in an NCFC kit. It was Mentzingen's fourth goal contribution of 2024 and 50th goal contribution for Mentzingen in his USL career.
The home side put the exclamation point on the win with another brilliant combination, with Ezra Armstrong polishing off a feed from Rodrigo Da Costa in second half stoppage time. It was Da Costa's 30th assist for his USL career.
Match Notes
Collin Martin surpassed 10,000 USL Championship regular season minutes in the 69' minute of the game. NCFC is the fourth team Martin has played for in the USL Championship, with the bulk of the minutes coming during his four seasons with San Diego Loyal. Martin's final 850 minutes of that milestone with NCFC are the second most he has played on any of the USL Championship teams he has been on.
Xavier Holloway, one of NCFC's seven academy signings announced last week, was rostered for the first time since joining the team on a USL Championship Academy contract. Holloway is the first of the seven to make a match day roster.
The match started 1:14 behind schedule at 8:20 p.m. ET due to weather in the area.
Up Next:
North Carolina FC travels north to visit the Pittsburgh Riverhounds this Saturday, May 18, for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff at Highmark Stadium. The match will stream live on ESPN+.
Box Score:
NCFC (3-4-2-1): Jake McGuire; Justin Malou (Lamar Batista - 30'), Paco Craig ©, Bryce Washington; Ezra Armstrong, Collin Martin, Raheem Somersall (Mikey Maldonado - 85'), Rafa Mentzingen; Louis Perez (Rodrigo Da Costa - 85'), Evan Conway; Oalex Anderson (Garrett McLaughlin - 78')
Subs Not Used: Antonio Carrera, Nelson Flores Blanco, Kyrome Lumsden, Xavier Holloway, Shaft Brewer Jr.
LDN (4-2-2): Hugo Fauroux, Kwame Awuah (Robby Dambrot - 58'), Keegan Tingey (Riley Bidois - 88'), Jacob Erlandson, Keegan Hughes (Riley Bidois - 88'), Abdellatif Aboukoura (Kalil ElMedkhar - 58'), Drew Skundrich (Tommy Williamson - 68'), Tommy McCabe, Florian Valot, Zach Ryan ©, Wesley Leggett (Christiano François - 58')
Subs Not Used:
Score:
NCFC: 2
LDN: 0
Goals:
NCFC: P. Craig - 24' (Mentzingen); E. Armstrong - 90+7' (Da Costa)
LDN:
Cautions:
NCFC: R. Mentzingen - 1', R. Somersall - 42'; E. Armstrong - 67'; L. Batista - 74', 90+12'; M. Maldonado - 90'
LDN: J. Erlandson - 13'; H. Fauroux - 33', Bench - 85'
Ejections:
NCFC: L. Batista - 90+12' (second yellow)
LDN:
Attendance: 1,385
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