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Greens Take Care of Business, Defeat Defiance 2-0

By Tyler Vaughn, 07/27/19, 11:15PM CDT

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Energy FC picked up three huge points on the road against the Tacoma Defiance at Cheney Stadium Saturday night. Goals from Kyle Hyland and Atiba Harris and a fifth clean sheet of the season for Cody Laurendi and the defense moved the Greens up to 7th place in the Western Conference standings.

The hosts nearly took the lead in the 12th minute and would have if it weren’t for Christian Ibeagha. Shandon Hopeau’s low shot from inside the penalty area beat Laurendi, but Ibeagha was able to recover and clear the ball off the line.

Omar Gordon came closest to scoring for the Greens in the opening 45 minutes. His 30-yard attempt in the 15th minute looked like it would dip just under the crossbar, but Trey Muse was able to get a hand to the shot and tip it over for a corner kick.

A good chance fell to Rafael Garcia in the 31st minute, when Hyland’s cross from the left wing found Garcia at the back post. Unfortunately, the volley was just off target.

Tacoma came inches away from taking a lead into the break. In the 39th minute, Handwalla Bwana’s curling effort struck the inside of the post before being cleared away to safety.

The intensity from OKC picked up significantly in the second half, and some good pressuring from Deshorn Brown almost resulted in the game’s first goal in the 63rd minute. Brown stole the ball off Jonathan Campbell and was through on goal, but Muse was quick off his line to cut down the angle and make the stop.

Hyland finally made the breakthrough in the 77th minute after taking a square pass from Je-Vaughn Watson, dribbling forward near the top of the penalty area and unleashing a low drive to the right corner of the goal that skipped past Muse and into the side netting.

The Greens sealed the points in the 89th minute when Harris rose highest to nod Garcia’s free kick into the far post, leaving Muse stranded.

Energy FC return home next Saturday, August 3, as they look to retain the Wrench in the second Black Gold Derby of 2019 against Tulsa Roughnecks FC. Kickoff for that one is set for 8 p.m. CDT, and tickets can be found at energyfc.com/august or by calling 235-KICK.

This Post-Match Report is presented by Southern Nazarene University. Learn more about SNU’s MASMA program here.

Scoring Summary:

OKC: 0-1: Hyland, 77’

OKC: 0-2: Harris, 89’

Disciplinary Summary:

OKC: Yellow Card (Gordon, 15’)

OKC: Yellow Card (Ross, 53’)

OKC Starting XI: GK: Cody Laurendi; D: Alvin Jones, Christian Ibeagha, Atiba Harris (c), Kyle Hyland; M: Callum Ross (Christian Eissele, 75’), Je-Vaughn Watson, Rafael Garcia; F: Cordell Cato (Jon Brown, 75’), Omar Gordon (Kal Okot, 84’), Deshorn Brown

Substitutions Not Used: Bryan Byars, Alexy Bosetti, Amer Sasivarevic, Mekeil Williams

Tacoma Starting XI: GK: Trey Muse; D: Antonee Burke-Gilfory, Sam Rogers (c), Jonathan Campbell, Nick Hinds; M: Jesse Daley (Joel Rydstrand, 81’), Josh Atencio, Shandon Hopeau, Handwalla (Ray Serrano, 77’), Marlon Vargas; F: Alec Diaz (Danny Robles, 68’)

Substitutions Not Used: Jacob Castro, Aleks Berkolds, Ben Numbi, Ever Rubio

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