Cincinnati, OH --- In a match that was halted in the 90th minute due to lightning, FC Cincinnati came away with a 2-1 win over Bethlehem Steel FC in front of 18,441 Sat. night at Nippert Stadium.
With FCC ahead on a pair of goals by forward, Danni König, and Steel FC looking for the equalizer, the teams emptied the field at 8:55 p.m. before the final four minutes of stoppage time could be played out. At 10:45 the match was called due to continued lightning strikes.
“We weren’t happy with last weekend’s result so we made some adjustments in the lineup and tonight the players were rewarded for their hard work tonight,” commented Head Coach Alan Koch. “I really do think we’re trending in the right direction after seeing how the guys looked tonight. We have high expectations for our group.”
König scored his first goal for FCC in the 18th minute. Jimmy McLaughlin centered a pass to König who dove between two Bethlehem defenders and deflected the ball with his head past Bethlehem’s Jake McGuire.
Bethlehem leveled the score in the 33rd minute of play with a penalty kick from Conneh after being clipped from behind by Aodhan Quinn. Conneh drove the ball to the top right corner of the goal, past outstretched keeper, Mitch Hildebrandt.
König notched his second goal of the match in the 52nd minute, which proved to be enough for the win. Kadeem Dacres received a long pass from Quinn from FCC’s defensive third. Dacres collected the ball, crossed to König, whose initial shot was blocked by McGuire but König collected the deflection and would not be denied a second time, putting the ball in the bottom left of the goal and FCC improved to 3-0 on the season when scoring first.
FCC was on the offensive early in the game. In the 13th minute, midfielder Matt Bahner, would center a long pass to Dacres, who fired a shot inches above the crossbar. Moments later Corben Bone centered a low pass into the front of the goal that deflected off the foot of Bethlehem’s Ken Tribbett. König appeared to have FCC’s first goal after heading the ball past McGuire but he was called for the foul and the goal was disallowed.
Bethlehem had opportunities to knot the score a second time in the final moments of the match. Midfielder Chris Nanco collected the ball off a FCC free kick, broke free of the FCC defensive line but Hildebrandt charged and slid forward and deflected the ball clear before Nanco was able to put a shot on.
FCC will return to Nippert Stadium on Sat., June 27 against Toronto FC II. Match play will open at 5:00 p.m.
