Orlando City B vs. Huntsville City FC: Final Score 1-1 as Young Lions Claim Shootout Point Following Road Draw

For the second straight game, OCB fell behind but came back to get a result. The Young Lions watched Joel Sangwa open the scoring on a free header for Huntsville City FC (0-0-2, 2 points) in the first half, but battled back on a Justin Ellis goal, as OCB (1-0-1, 5 points) earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw on a rainy night at Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville, AL. The Young Lions then won a wild penalty shootout to claim another point in the standings.

For the moment, that puts OCB atop the Eastern Conference on the early season, but with one more game played than most teams. The Young Lions earned five out of a possible six points in their two-game, season-opening road trip.

Head Coach Manuel Goldberg’s lineup featured Carlos Mercado in goal behind a back line of Tahir Reid-Brown, Manuel Cocca, Nabi Kibunguchi, and Zakaria Taifi. Imanol Almaguer and Colin Guske made up the double pivot in central midfield behind an attacking midfield line of Yutaro Tsukada, Jhon Solis, and Thomas Bowe with Justin Ellis up top.

The Young Lions started the game as the protagonists, getting a couple of early half chances but wasting them badly with wild, off-target shots. One effort went so far wide in the opening minutes that it seems impossible that it wasn’t blocked. The second came from Cocca off a scramble in the box on a corner kick, but the defender sent a shot high into the night sky in the ninth minute.

After a good first 10 minutes for OCB, Huntsville started settling into the game, but the hosts were helped by poor touches and passes by the Young Lions. Orlando City B repeatedly tried to make quick, intricate passes in tight space in their own half or near midfield and could not make them precisely enough, allowing Huntsville to easily take the ball away time after time. It put the Young Lions on their heels for the middle part of the first half.

Jonathan Bolanos sent a hard, low shot from outside the box just inches of Mercado’s left post in the 24th minute. Bolanos gave Taifi some problems down OCB’s right flank, winning some set pieces and sending some dangerous crosses into the box.

Forster Ajago just mistimed his jump a minute after the Bolanos miss after OCB turned the ball over again. That led to a corner kick and the hosts made the set piece pay off. Sangwa went high over Ellis and put his free header past Mercado to open the scoring in the 26th minute.

Ajago had a chance to double the lead a minute later but committed a foul trying to push his way to a cross.

The Young Lions started to get some rhythm back around the half-hour mark. Solis got into the box and would have had a dangerous scoring chance, but a wayward spoiled the attack in the 31st minute. Seconds later, Tsukada tried an ambitious effort from outside the right corner of the box. The rookie’s shot didn’t bend and stayed well off target.

In the 34th minute, Tsukada sent a good ball through the box that Ellis couldn’t quite turn on target and OCB’s back post runner wasn’t close enough to tap it into the empty net. The Lions pulled level moments later anyway.

Sangwa took an unsteady touch on a back pass and Ellis pounced, knocking it toward the penalty area. The players arrived together and Ellis out-muscled the defender to win the ball, then calmly stepped to his left across the face of goal and slotted the equalizer home in the 36th minute for his first MLS NEXT Pro goal.

Reid-Brown came within inches of giving OCB the lead in the 40th minute. The Homegrown fullback sent in a shot from outside the area that crashed off the crossbar behind goalkeeper Ben Martino. The ball rebounded to Taifi, but the right back’s shot was deflected behind for a corner. A minute later, Almaguer went for goal from long range and hit his shot wildly off target. Guske fired a similarly wild shot in the 44th minute, but in fairness, the rain was falling and the ball was wet.

The last good chance of the half fell to Huntsville. A ball knocked away by the defense made it just outside the area on the right to Maximus Ekk, who smashed a volley toward goal that skipped just wide of the left post.

The stat sheet was indicative of the tie score at the break. OCB finished the half with the advantage in shots (8-4), while Huntsville passed more accurately (85.1%-78.2%) and held more possession (55%-45%). Each team put one shot on target (the two goals), and both sides won four corner kicks.

Orlando won an early corner after the restart but did nothing with it. Huntsville then seized control of the match and the hosts were rarely threatened from that point on. However, the OCB defense did well to handle almost everything Huntsville City threw at it, and when the ball got through, Mercado was there to catch the ball.

Adem Sipic fired the first shot on target in the 49th minute, sending a shot in from the left side that Mercado was able to catch cleanly despite the rain. Three minutes later, Ekk found himself all alone at the back post for a free header, but he couldn’t get any power behind his shot and Mercado fielded it on one hop.

Ekk then blasted a shot from well outside the area off a corner kick played short. Kibunguchy got his head to it to ensure that Mercado didn’t have to make a save on the strike. Solis cleared the ensuing corner but Huntsville won it back and Ekk freed himself for a shot from outside the area that Mercado saved.

The hosts continued their assault on goal with Kibunguchy blocking a shot inside the box, followed by Mercado catching a long-range effort from Bolanos in the 55th and 56th minutes, respectively.

One of OCB’s problems in the second half was wasting attacking opportunities. Both teams fell in love with the long shot attempt and neither side came particularly close to scoring with such efforts. Tsukada wasted an opportunity in the 57th minute with an impatient attempt that came nowhere near threatening the goal.

Ollie Wright sent a shot wide of goal from a good spot near the top of the area in the 59th minute and Huntsville teammate Scott Cheevers was booked for yapping at the referee for giving a goal kick. Two minutes later, Reid-Brown got away with a bad turnover in his own box, hustling to help win the ball back.

Tsukada made a fantastic run through the defense in the 63rd minute and did well to free himself for a shot fromt he left, but Sangwa came in to block it at the last second. OCB could not make the corner kick pay off. Another rare foray up the pitch nearly created something for the Young Lions, but a cross fizzed too quickly through the box for Ellis to get onto it.

Goldberg subbed in Majed Mohammed for Ellis in the 78th minute and OCB struggled to keep possession after the change. Mohammed got position well on long balls forward but could not bring balls down close enough to his body. The few times he did, he was muscled off the ball by the defense and Huntsville continued its attack.

There was a scary moment in the 82nd minute when a ball popped loose in the box. Mercado raced off his line and got to the ball just ahead of Ajago, who tumbled over the prone goalkeeper. Huntsville shouted for a penalty, but Mercado got a touch to the ball just before Ajago arrived, and although the keeper couldn’t maintain possession of the wet ball, the lack of a penalty call seemed the correct one.

OCB seemed content to play for the draw after that and nearly got a counterattack opportunity in the 90th minute, but Wright played a second ball on the pitch down the middle to break up the transition. He was booked for the interference.

The Young Lions wanted a penalty in the second minute of six added minutes. Abdullah did well to make his first decent attacking run and got into the box, going down with contact, but the referee deemed the challenge legal and played on.

Orlando survived a couple of late Huntsville attacks to earn the road draw at full time.

Huntsville sustained its second-half pressure and finished with the advantage in shots (14-12), shots on target (5-1), passing accuracy (85.4%-74.6%), and corners (9-6). But OCB defended well and Mercado didn’t have to make many big stops.

That would soon change.

Because the game ended in a draw, MLS NEXT Pro rules dictate that the game goes to penalties to determine which team earns a second point in the standings. It was Huntsville’s second shootout in as many games and OCB’s first of the season.

The hosts shot first from the spot, with Alexis Cerritos scoring to set the tone for Huntsville City. Cocca fired off the underside of the crossbar and in to level the shootout after one round.

Sangwa fired wide of the left post as Huntsville’s second shooter, giving OCB a chance to seize control. The Young Lions squandered that opportunity when Zakaria Taifi left his shot too close to Martino, who was able to get down in time to stop the shot.

Isaiah Johnston fired a shot just under the bar into the roof of the net to make it 2-1 Huntsville to open the third round. Tsukada used a Bruno Fernandes-like stuttery run-up and hop to force Martino to commit, then calmly slotted home to tie it at 2-2 after three rounds.

Cheevers restored the lead for the hosts with Huntsville’s fourth shot, but Guske answered with an inch-perfect shot inside the left post to make it 3-3.

Sipic sent a shot toward the right post as Huntsville’s fifth shooter, but Mercado had already guessed that way and made a good save near the post to keep the score tied. OCB had a chance to win, but Kibunguchy left his shot too close to the middle and Martino was not fooled by his sprint up to the ball, making a comfortable save and sending the shootout to sudden death.

Mercado came up with another stop on Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez to give OCB another chance to grab the extra point, and this time the Young Lions capitalized. Thomas Bowe coolly slotted home his spot kick past Martino to lift OCB to the 4-3 shootout win and the extra point in the MLS NEXT Pro standings.

The Young Lions will host Inter Miami in their home opener on Tuesday at 6 p.m., but the club has yet to announce the venue for the match.