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USL Tampa Bay Rowdies

Rowdies Best Loudoun 1-0

September 30, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release


ST. PETERSBURG, FL - The Tampa Bay Rowdies prevailed 1-0 over Loudoun United at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night. With the win, the Rowdies clinched a home game for the first round of the USL Championship playoffs.

It was a good week overall for the Rowdies as they also recorded a 2-0 win at Hartford Athletic on Wednesday.

"First and foremost, it was good to win," said Rowdies midfielder Charlie Dennis. "I don't think it was a perfect match, but we're running thin on numbers right now. It was good to win and get another clean sheet. We've got to take the positives and move on from there."

Tampa Bay started the match brightly with two clear cut chances in the opening minutes. Josh Perez had the first scoring opportunity of the night, banging a cross from Cal Jennings into the crossbar. JJ Williams looked for goal just a few minutes later as he got his head on a terrific cross from Jordan Doherty, but the attempt bounced a few feet wide.

Jennings and Williams eventually helped the Rowdies get on the score sheet as the match reached the half hour mark. Williams sparked the scoring sequence, firing a long range shot that clipped the left post and rolled across the face of Loudoun's goal. Before keeper Hugo Fauroux could scoop the ball up, Jennings swept in to slip the ball with a tidy finish at the near post for his 17th tally of the season.

With the lead, the Rowdies were able to ride out the rest of the match relatively comfortably. The Rowdies limited Loudoun to just one shot on target all night, blocking six of the visitors' shot attempts to secure their second shutout of the week and their tenth overall this season. The shutout also marked a milestone for Rowdies keeper Connor Sparrow, who notched the 40th regular-season clean sheet of his career. Sparrow is only the sixth player in league history to reach 40 regular-season shutouts.

"Credit to all of my defenders," said Sparrow. "There was probably a good amount of shutouts where I didn't have to do much. I'm thankful for that. The make my job easy. But it's great to achieve that milestone. Hopefully there's a good amount more to come."

Saturday's result keeps the Rowdies second in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the Players' Shield, awarded the team with the best regular-season record in the league. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC maintained their three-point lead in the hunt with a 3-2 over FC Tulsa. The Rowdies will host a marquee matchup against Pittsburgh next Saturday at Al Lang.

"The aim of the week was to get the six points and give ourselves the opportunity to go into this game next week with a chance to go top of the table," said Rowdies Head Coach Nicky Law. "We got the six points but we'll definitely have to be better next week, there's no doubt about that when you go up against an in-form team that's top of the table. We're gonna have to raise our game. We have a big week ahead on the training ground to get the guys ready mentally and physically. We're relishing the challenge."

Scoring Summary

TBR - Jennings, 29th minute

Lineups

TBR: Sparrow, Doherty, Lasso, Kleemann, Antley, Ekra, Dennis, LaCava, Perez (Dalgaard, 46'), Williams, Jennings

LDN: Faroux, Neville, Leerman, Washington, Koanda, Morris, Turner, Landry, Hegardt, Williamson

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from September 30, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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