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USL Tampa Bay Rowdies

Rowdies Knock off New Mexico 3-0

April 28, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - The Tampa Bay Rowdies knocked off Western Conference side New Mexico United 3-0 at Al Lang Stadium, extending their unbeaten start to the season to seven matches. Rowdies forward Cal Jennings notched a brace in the victory, bringing his season tally to six goals.

"We want to entertain the fans when we win games," said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson. "We can do that by scoring goals, creating chances. I thought today, we did that. I thought there were a lot of periods in the game where we could have done a little bit more. There are always things to work on but I was pleased with the guys tonight."

Tampa Bay was full throttle from the start. Before the first minute had expired, striker Manuel Arteaga had come close to grabbing the lead with a probing long-range effort that did not miss the target by much.

The Rowdies only made the home crowd wait seven minutes before taking the lead. A dangerous corner kick sent in by midfielder Lewis Hilton found the head of center back Forrest Lasso on the back post. Lasso sent his header back across goal where it was met by Jennings. With a few defenders in the area, Jennings bounced on the loose ball with a sliding strike into the back of the net.

"Forrest did a great job beating his defender and I had made a near post run so at that point in time, it was just about recycling," said Jennings. "He put a nice ball across and the quicker I could get to it, I thought that was most important, not give their defenders the time to react."

Jennings got a major assist from Arteaga to double the lead in the 16th minute. Pinning the visitors down in their own corner, Arteaga swiped the ball off of the defender and centered a pass for Jennings in the box. Jennings did not waste the chance as he buried the ball with his first touch for his sixth goal of the season.

"The key for us is at the start of the game, we want to play in the opposition's half," said Neilson. "That's really important for us. To get the center halves to the halfway line and play through them. If we do that, we start to create opportunities and then we get the crowd behind us and we start to get momentum."

Rowdies keeper Jordan Farr kept his squad ahead by two with an outstanding denial of former Rowdies midfielder Dayonn Harris in the 28th minute. A cross sent in from the right flank found Harris in front of goal, but the attacker's attempt was scooped up on the line at the last second by Farr.

The Rowdies continued to dominate in terms of chances created throughout the first half and eventually found their third goal of the night in the 58th. After being clipped down in the box, Arteaga stepped up to the spot and converted his penalty with a cheeky shot down the middle as keeper Alex Tambakis dove to his left. With the conversion, Arteaga has now scored five goals on the year.

"It was very important for us to win today and get three points at home," said Arteaga. "Today we were hungry for the win. and everything went well for us. I'll say it again, the most important thing for us is to win."

In the second minute of second half added time, Farr again was called on to keep the Rowdies second clean sheet of the season intact. Reading a pass through the middle of the field, Farr came off his line to snuff out a chance for New Mexico's leading scorer Greg Hurst at the top of the box.

"I think New Mexico are a very good team," said Neilson. "Attacking wise, they have real pace in wide areas, as you know with Dayonn Harris. They've got Akale that comes on and then [Nicky] Hernandez as the 10 and [Greg] Hurts is a top striker. We just felt that we had to keep that back three in place at all times. We really tried to do that get our wingbacks nice and tight as well to stop these phases. I thought the center halves did a great job. They secured everything behind the ball, stopped a lot of the transitions and allowed us to build into the game."

Next up, the Rowdies head to the Bluff City for a matchup with Memphis 901 FC at AutoZone Park on Saturday, May 4 at 4 pm ET. Join the official Rowdies watch party at Colony Grill in Downtown St. Petersburg.

Scoring Summary

TBR - Jennings (Lasso), 7'

TBR - Jennings (Arteaga), 16'

TBR - Arteaga (Penalty), 58'

Caution Summary

TBR - Perez, Yellow Card, 28'

TBR - Crisostomo, Yellow Card, 43'

NM - Hurst, Yellow Card, 45+1'

TBR - Bodily, Yellow Card, 52'

NM - Micaletto, Yellow Card, 70'

NOTABLE STATS

The Rowdies snapped a three-match winning streak for New Mexico in league play

The Rowdies are now 2W-0L-0D all-time versus New Mexico.

ATTENDANCE: 6,588

Lineups

Rowdies Lineup: Farr, Doherty, Lasso Guillen, Munjoma, Hilton, Crisostomo (Dennis,68'), Bodily (Moon, 84'), Jennings (Rivera, 68'), Arteaga (Niyongabire, 84'), Perez (Ortiz, 68')

Rowdies Bench: Breno, Kleemann, Dezart, Skubis, Dennis, Moon, Niyongabire, Rivera, Ortiz

New Mexico Lineup: Tambakis, Gloster (Seymore, 41'), Herbert, Maples, Astorga, Micaletto (Flanagan, 70'), Hernandez, Bailey, Harris (Houssou, 70'), Hurst, Reyes ( Akale, 60')

New Mexico Bench: Shakes, Flanagan, Seymour, Rivas, Houssou, Akale, Sais

UP NEXT:

TAMPA BAY ROWDIES at MEMPHIS 901 FC

AutoZone Park | Memphis, TN

May 4, 2024 | USL Championship Regular Season | Matchday 8

4 p.m. ET | ESPN+

ROWDIES POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ROBBIE NIELSON

On scoring more goals scored than last week, what was the difference...

"Just getting that final moment. Last week against El Paso, we probably played better. We probably could have created more chances last week but tonight, we took those chances, which we saw the result of that, that's the most important thing - getting the ball in the back of the net. Pleased with that. Great crowd tonight, full house and I think everyone has left happy having seen goals."

On his objective of providing an entertaining game of soccer...

"That's the objective. We want to entertain the fans when we win games. We can do that by scoring goals, and creating chances. I thought today, we did that. I thought there were a lot of periods in the game where we could have done a little bit more. There are always things to work on but I was pleased with the guys tonight."

On the team starting the game strong...

"The key for us is at the start of the game, we want to play in the opposition's half. That's really important for us. To get the center-halves to the halfway line and play through them. If we do that, we start to create opportunities and then we get the crowd behind us and we start to get momentum. It wasn't anything to do with team talks, it was just to get in their half and play through them."

On what changes had to be made throughout the match to keep New Mexico United at bay...

"To New Mexico's credit, even at 3-0, they were dangerous. They have some really good technical players. [Greg] Hurst is a really good goalscorer but then they've got guys behind him who can create. They're always going to have periods of the game where they have little pockets, but I thought the back five stayed nice and compact .... Yeah, there are areas that, perhaps, we need to improve but it was a good night."

On what he told Cristian Ortiz before he was subbed on...

"Just go and enjoy it. Get a little opportunity and just make sure you have the target...He's been outstanding since he came in. We look to tie him up to a professional deal in the next week or two because he's earned it. He's earned the right to come out on the pitch. The players love him and that's always a big indicator of the respect they have. For a young player like that, first, he's talented, secondly he works extremely hard for the team."

On getting Cal Jennings and Manuel Arteaga to continue working together...

"Yeah, it just takes time. Those two, I said in the call, are two guys who have played as lone strikers for most of their careers and we're asking them to play as two. At the start, it was the intent to play with a lone striker, but they are starting to get a relationship now. The longer they play together, the more success they have, the more the relationship will build."

On how the team kept New Mexico United scoreless...

"I think New Mexico are a very good team. Attacking wise, they have real pace in wide areas, as you know with Dayonn Harris. They've got Akale that comes on and then [Nicky] Hernandez as the 10 and [Greg] Hurts is a top striker. We just felt that we had to keep that back three in place at all times. We really tried to do that get our wingbacks nice and tight as well to stop these phases. I thought the center halves did a great job. They secured everything behind the ball, stopped a lot of the transitions and allowed us to build into the game"

On Nick Moon getting his first minutes of the season...

"Delighted, absolutely delighted. We signed him and then he had that injury, and then an operation and we've been waiting and working with him. He'll be a great asset to us. You could see tonight, he's still got a bit of rust in there. But you could see the quality he brings. He's strong, he's powerful, he can play both sides once we get him up and running. But we need to be patient with him"

FORWARD CAL JENNINGS

On him and Manuel Arteaga in a competition with their goalscoring

"We are not, but if both of us are scoring, that's a good thing. Hopefully, we'll keep competing with each other but also helping each other score goals."

On what he attributes to the high chances created by the team...

"I think our spacing has gotten better. We're doing a good job at pushing players forward, getting our wingers into attack, and getting more service. Those are all contributors. Also, the relationships are growing more on the team, getting more comfortable with one another and that's how the chances are getting created."

On what his instructions are when it comes to creating goal-scoring chances...

"We have a lot of different roles as strikers. Some of it is to pin the backline, and make sure we're giving our midfielders space to get on the ball. A lot of it is just reading the spaces and being aggressive. Finding times to turn and run at defenders, finding times to get touches in the box. I thought one thing we did really good tonight was our midfielders gave us a lot of opportunities in behind and that's where the chances came from."

On he found the space to score two goals...

"As a striker you always want to get on the scoresheet, I'm thankful for that. I came out of the last game frustrated that I had some chances that I normally would score so I was just focused on 'let me continue to go, continue to work' and see how many I could put in the back of the net tonight and I'm thankful I got two."

On his first goal...

"The first one was the header, right? Went over off a corner kick from Forrest [Lasso]. Forrest did a great job beating his defender and I had made a near post run so at that point in time, it was just about recycling. He put a nice ball across and the quicker I could get to it, I thought that was most important, not give their defenders the time to react."

On his relationship on the field with Manuel Arteaga

"Absolutely. We're doing a good job, especially at training this week, at getting touches, getting on the same page. I'm confident its' going to get even better. Yeah, we've played as lone strikers before but we've also proven we can pair well. We've both played well with Danny Trejo at different places. I had a good relationship with JJ Williams. I think the two of us are compatible and can really score a lot of goals and also help set up some others as well."

On the banner of him as Jedi...

"Loved that. What a great representation of me. I think it was better looking than [me]."

On the team's seven-game unbeaten streak...

"We're coming together. Obviously, this is a big result. Three goals, lots of chances, hold on to the clean sheet. That's big for everybody and against a New Mexico team that has done very well up until this point. I feel confident. May is going to be big month for us, with a lot of home games and the schedule is going to get more compact so we're going to have to show our depth as well."

DEFENDER AARON GUILLEN

On how he feels about the result...

"Obviously, it's always nice to get the three points, especially at home. You see we had a lot of chances to even make it a bigger result. Things are going well, the team is getting gelled together. So it's good, we're happy."

On the difference he's seen in the group from the start of the season to now...

"You hit the spot with that. Just playing it each other at training, getting more minutes together, more reps, you're just going to get to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses and we're enjoying playing out there together."

On shutting down New Mexico United and snapping their four-game win streak

"It was more about us and focusing on ourselves and knowing our strengths and being on the right foot. We did that and we pressed them well and got some chances off the press. The second one actually comes from Manu [Manuel Arteaga] starting the press up high and slipping it to Cal [Jennings] to score."

On his work and relationship with Blake Bodily and Josh Perez...

"It comes from the coach. He gives us that green light to go forward and do our game and have confidence to go. Josh [Perez] is a great player, obviously Blake [Bodily] is a great player, we compliment each other pretty well and we're just trying to do our best."

On the team's seven game unbeaten streak...

"We still have a lot of work to do. It's always easier to fix the details and problems that you have when you're not losing, the environment is more positive in the locker room when you're winning. We just need to stay positive and keep doing what they're asking us to do."

FORWARD MANUEL ARTEAGA

On if he and Cal Jennings are in a friendly competition to see who can score more goals...

"No. It's no competition. It's like I told you last time, we are very happy. The most important thing is to win. Today was a great game. 3-0. Three points. Now our minds on the next game."

On the increased amount of scoring chances over the last few games...

"The team is improving. In this game it's important to play together in the building. It's very important for us. I think the team plays so good it's very important for us. It's normal in the games to miss a pass or whatever but we're building. We keep going. It's important for us to keep going."

On how the team broke down New Mexico

"It was very important for us to win today and get three points at home. Today the people are hungry for the win. Today, everything went well for us. I'll say it again, the most important thing for us is to win."

On how the work of the forwards helps secure a clean sheet like tonight...

"We all work hard. Teamwork is the most important thing. Before the game, everybody talked about teamwork. As forwards, for us, we are the first defense of the team. That's most important."

On the importance of starting the game aggressively...

"The game is at home. When we are playing at home, that is the mentality. Go and press. At home that is very important for us. We want to have the mentality of winners when we play at home always."

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