Richmond Kickers 3, FC Tucson 1
Richmond, Va. – The Richmond Kickers (10-6-4, 34 pts) returned home with a come-from-behind win against FC Tucson (3-10-4, 13 pts) to sweep the three-game series with eight goals against Tucson’s single goal.
Emiliano Terzaghi scored two goals – tying him for the USL League One lead – and Ethan Vanacore-Decker scored his first goal as a Kicker. Stuart Ritchie tallied two assists and Matthew Bentley recorded one.
The Kickers had the first opportunity on goal early in the match in the 13th minute as Terzaghi played a back heel to Nil Vinyals. He returned the ball to Terzaghi who tried to chip the keeper but was denied by Tucson’s Carlos Merancio.
Tucson crossed the ball into the box and forced Fitz to make a diving save in the 19th minute to keep the game 0-0.
In the 29th minute, Tucson drew first blood as Giovanni Calixtro scored in the far side off a back heel pass from his teammate Franco Perez.
The Roos responded in the 45th minute as Vanacore-Decker scored his first Kicker’s goal in City Stadium. Ritchie received the ball from the wings and found Vanacore-Decker in the box with plenty of space to turn behind the defender. He took the shot into the lower right corner of the net past the reach of the keeper.
In the span of 20 games, the Kickers have scored 19 goals in the first half.
Both teams kept looking for the advantage but it finally came for the Roos in the 56th minute. Vinyals found Bentley onside behind the defender who snuck the ball in the perfect spot for Terzaghi to slide it right into the back of the net after being denied in the first half.
The Kickers kept knocking at the door for more as Jonathan Bolanos received the ball from Vinyals, took on the defenders and took a shot that hit just outside the net just a few minutes after making his return from injury.
In the 64th minute, Ethan Bryant found Ritchie on the wing. Ritchie then crossed the ball into the box, finding Terzaghi in front of the defender who slid to put the ball past the keeper into the goal. This marked the second goal for Terzaghi and Ritchie’s second assist of the night.
Fitzgerald kept Tucson to only one goal in the 67th minute after denying an open shot from Jacob Crull.
Even in stoppage time, the Kickers had two more opportunities in the box almost back-to-back.
In the 1st minute of stoppage time, Leonardo Baima received the ball from Stephen Payne who then found Luke Pavone at the top of the box but was unlucky with the first touch.
In the 2nd minute, Payne once again found Pavone on the run toward the endline who found Bolanos in the box but his shot once again went just wide of the net.
The Kickers are back on the road to face Greenville Triumph on Saturday, Aug. 13, before traveling to Fresno to take on Central Valley Fuego on Saturday, Aug. 20.
The Kickers return home on Saturday, Aug. 27th to take on Union Omaha for the ’95 Open Cup Anniversary Celebration Night. Kickoff for the match against Union Omaha is set for 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at richmondkickers.com/tickets.
