Boxscore
CINCINNATI, OH --- Casey Townsend scored his first goal for FC Cincinnati, flicking in a pass from Eric Stevenson in the 81st minute as the club solidified third place and a home playoff berth in front of a USL-record, 24,376, with a 1-0 victory Sat., at Nippert Stadium. FCC will open playoff action with a first-round match, Sun., Oct. 2 at 4:00 p.m.
Rewriting the USL single-game attendance records for the third time this year, FCC in the inaugural season, surpassed the 300,000 (303,166) mark in attendance for all matches and 250,000 (259,437) in USL-only fixtures.
“We come back home after certainly being challenged on the road,” commented Head Coach John Harkes. “We talked about building a club and how much adversity we would have to have along the way. We matched up against a physical team tonight and a team that came with a lot of energy. The guys that came off the bench did extremely well. I am happy that [Eric] Stevenson put a good ball in. He was dangerous against Pittsburgh and there he is again.”
The winning goal came in the 81st minute with Stevenson curving in a ball into the box to find Townsend, who was able to get the touch on the ball and direct it past Mark Ridgers to break through the scoreless tie.
“I got the slightest of touches on it,” said Townsend. “I barely got a touch on it as it was, so it was mostly [Eric Stevenson].”
Mitch Hildebrandt made two saves in the win as FCC recorded its third clean sheet.
“To think about our defensive unit, you’ve got to think about where the other guy is going to be” said Hildebrandt. “To play 28, 29 games together, everyone is starting to know how we play. We are just kind of rolling with it. Those guys [FCC’s backline] have been monsters and make my job pretty easy.”
FCC mounted an on-going offensive effort, out-shooting OCB 17-7, including a 10-3 advantage in the first period.
Seeing several opportunities in the first without a goal, FCC came out firing in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Sean Okoli and Andrew Weideman had back-to-back chances inside the box but OCB’s defense held firm to keep the match scoreless.
Orlando City B had four shots in the second half with Michael Cox having an open look at the goal in the 63rd minute but saw his shot from distance slice wide.
Okoli nearly had the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute, firing a point-blank shot at Ridgers but the goalie two-handed the ball back out for one of his five saves.
Neal Lewis also had a clear look at an open goal in the 72nd minute after Cox had drawn Hildebrandt and the FCC defense to the left side but the midfielder’s shot squirted wide.
Okoli and Wiedeman combined for 12 of the team’s 17 shots and have five of the six shots on goal for FCC.
The Orange and Blue end the regular season next Sat., (Sept. 24) at Pittsburgh Riverhounds with a 7:00 p.m. start.
