USL FC Tulsa

Roughnecks Can'T Hold Early Lead in Loss to Blues

Published on August 5, 2016 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
FC Tulsa News Release


Less than a week after pulling out a victory in stoppage time, the Tulsa Roughnecks FC nearly employed similar late-game heroics, but this time, Cristian Mata's attempt for the game-tying goal didn't go in.

In the end, Tulsa ended up falling 2-1 to Orange County Blues FC in front of 3,516 at ONEOK Field.

Sammy Ochoa celebrates his first-half goal. (Lori Scholl)

Tulsa jumped on top early, taking a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the match on Sammy Ochoa's team-leading 10th goal of the season (tied for fifth in the USL), but was unable to sustain the advantage.

After withstanding Orange County's offensive pressure throughout most of the first half, the Roughnecks surrendered two goals in the first eight minutes after halftime.

Then they had the golden opportunity to tie it in the 90th minute, but the shot by Mata, who scored twice last Saturday to defeat Arizona United SC 2-1, was deflected over the crossbar by a Blues defender.

"It was very disappointing, I thought we should have gotten something out of the game," said Roughnecks coach David Irving. "We beat ourselves again and it was ten minutes of the match. It was right after halftime. That's what we talked about, 'Let's be ready,' and we came out a little flat. It's very disappointing. We battled, we tried, it just wasn't good enough. Ten minutes in the game, that was the difference."

The loss leaves Tulsa (5-13-3) in last place in the Western Conference, 10 points back of Saint Louis FC for the eighth and final playoff spot. With just nine games remaining, time is running out to make a late push for the post-season, despite a 2-1-1 record in their previous four matches.

Devin Morgan controls a ball during Thursday's match. (Brooke Carroll)

While that may appear to be a long shot at this point, that remains the team's objective.

"We came into the game thinking that there's still that possible chance of getting into the playoffs," Mata said. "Today made it a little tougher, but there's still nine games, so we've got to make the most of those."

The win actually lifts Orange County (8-9-4), who had been 1-3-1 in its previous five outings, into a tie with Saint Louis for that final post-season berth.

The Roughnecks started out strong, going ahead on Ochoa's goal. Mata, the reigning USL Player of the Week, set up the play with a nifty pass from the left wing across the goalmouth to the charging Ochoa, who drilled it into the open right side of the net from 10 yards out.

TRFC got a boost of momentum from the goal, but as the first half wore on, Orange County gradually began to take over more of the territorial advantage, applying considerable pressure on the Roughnecks.

The Blues out-shot Tulsa 9-4 in the first half, forcing Roughnecks goalkeeper Alex Mangels to make three saves in the opening 45 minutes, while the only Tulsa shot on goal was Ochoa's tally.

Despite that, TRFC successfully weathered the storm and did not allow any prime scoring chances.

But just three minutes after halftime, Orange County broke through on a spectacular goal by Richard Chaplow, who also started the play. Chaplow fed a short pass to Mats Bjurman, whose slick backwards flick pass enabled Chaplow to cut inside from the right side of the penalty area, and his shot from 15 yards sailed past Mangels, perfectly placed into the upper left corner, ricocheting in high off the post, just under the crossbar.

Four minutes later, it appeared that the Blues took a 2-1 lead after Kwame Watson-Siriboe's header beat Mangels, but it was waved off by the official due to a foul called on the play.

Less than a minute after that, in the 53rd minute, Orange County did strike again. Trevin Caesar pounced on a weak back pass from the Tulsa defense, stealing it and chipping it ahead. As Mangels and another Roughneck converged on the ball, Caesar managed to slip it past both of them, and then trotted into the box to deposit it into the empty net.

"Okay, the guy comes inside, hits the post, it could have gone anywhere, it goes in, that's the way things have been going," Irving said of Chaplow's goal. "And then the second one, it was a calamity of errors. A bad pass back, the goalkeeper's nowhere to be found and it's in. It's very disappointing."

With time winding down, Mata had a chance for the equalizer. He received a nice pass from Ochoa and boomed a shot from the right side of the penalty area, about 15 yards out, that appeared to be heading in before Watson-Siriboe re-directed it harmlessly over the crossbar.

"Sammy played a good ball in, I got it right out of the air, it looked like it was going in, but unluckily, the defender got a clearance on it at the last moment," Mata said of the play. "Last week, we ended the game in the 90th minute, and today wasn't the same result, but hopefully, we can turn it around fast."

The Roughnecks don't get much of a chance to dwell on the disappointment, because they get right back at it on Saturday night when the USL expansion side Swope Park Rangers visit ONEOK Field for the first time. It is part of a difficult stretch in which Tulsa plays four games in a span of 13 days.

"We've got to regroup and get ourselves ready for Saturday and Swope," Irving said. "We've got three games in seven days, then we go to Colorado Springs (on Aug. 11), but that's football, no complaints. We just came up a little short. It was a tough one." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

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