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Scorpions Fall in Tampa Bay, 1-0

October 19, 2013 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
San Antonio Scorpions News Release


The San Antonio Scorpions were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg on Saturday night, after a Luke Mulholland penalty kick was enough to secure a 1-0 lead for the Florida club.

In the 75th minute, Etienne Barbara made a run into the penalty box and was judged to be brought down by Scorpions defender, Greg Janicki, earning the Rowdies the spot kick. Mulholland stepped up and scored his ninth goal of the season, sending Scorpions goalkeeper, Jeremy Vuolo, the wrong way.

The two sides entered the first half scoreless, despite an entertaining 45 minutes at Al Lang Stadium. The Rowdies came out of the gates as the brighter side, and looked the more dangerous team in the first 10 minutes of the game, earning a couple of corner kicks early on.

After soaking up the pressure well, the Scorpions began to impose their game on the Rowdies, playing a lot of early action through the right wing-back, Lyle Martin. In the 15th minute, a great pass released Martin down the right side, and his cross found Tomasz Zahorski who buried the shot into the back of the net, but only to see that the linesman's flag was raised for offside.

The Scorpions continued to pressure the Rowdies' goal with Dennis Chin and Sainey Touray looking particularly dangerous, to go along with Martin. In the 22nd minute, another great pass from Lyle Martin was pushed away from the head of Zahorski by Rowdies goalkeeper, Diego Restrepo, but the ball fell to the feet of Touray who's shot lashed the crossbar.

The Rowdies almost took the lead however in the 25th minute when Lucky Mkosana's great strike was parried by Vuolo. The shot was the best of the first 45 minutes for the Tampa Bay club.

Following a brief delay due to issues with the lights at Al Lang Stadium, the Rowdies were able to put the ball in the back of the net following a set piece, but just like earlier, the offside flag was up, and the half ended scoreless.

"All of our new guys that have come in have done well for us but hopefully we put away our chances," said Scorpions Head Coach, Alen Marcina at the halftime break. "We have been getting in behind a few times, and if we had been more clinical, we could be up by a goal or two now. Aside from the first 10 minutes of the game, I thought we were the better team [in the first half]."

The second half started slow for both sides, but in the 52nd minute, the game had its third disallowed goal due to the offside rule. After Mulholland's shot was parried by Vuolo, Evans Frimpong pounced on the rebound and buried it in the net, but was judged to have been in an offside position. Mulholland created another chance in the 64th minute, when his cross-cum-shot glanced just past the goalmouth, but still couldn't fine the opener.

In the 75th minute, the Rowdies earned the penalty kick thanks to some fine work from Barbara, and Mulholland immediately stepped up to give the Rowdies the lead and eventually all three points.

"It's a bit unfortunate that the result went Tampa's way," said Marcina. "All credit to the Rowdies for being able to get the result, but I thought we were the better team. We created a lot of chances but couldn't put them away."

The Scorpions return home next weekend for their final home game of the 2013 NASL season. They host the New York Cosmos for the first time at Toyota Field, and will be looking to play spoiler and earn three points in front of their home crowd. Tickets can still be purchased by calling 210-495-8686 or by visiting sascorpions.com.

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North American Soccer League Stories from October 19, 2013


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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