Team 1 2 Final
Orlando City 2 2 4
Wilmington Hammerheads 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
OC – John Rooney 1 (penalty kick) 9
OC - John Rooney 2 (Kevin Molino 1) 41
OC - Rob Valentino 1 (John Rooney 1) 54
WIL - Bryce Taylor 1 (Hagop Chirishian 1) 56
OC - Dennis Chin 2 (Kevin Molino 2) 65
Misconduct Summary:
WIL - Mark Briggs (Caution; Reckless challenge) 58
OC – Anthony Pulis (Caution; ???) 72
Lineups:
Orlando City – Miguel Gallardo, Jerome Mechack, Kyle Davies, Rob Valentino, Luke Boden, Anthony Pulis, James O’Connor, Kevin Molino, John Rooney (Ian Fuller 75), Jamie Watson (Charlie Campbell 77), Max Griffin (Dennis Chin 62)
Substitutes not used: Sean Kelley, Erik Ustruck, Justin Clark, Matt Luzunaris
Wilmington Hammerheads – Alex Horwath, Tom Parratt (Dylan Riley 79), Gareth Evans, Troy Cole, Christian Davidson, Bryce Taylor, Paul Nicholson (Manny Guzman 75), Mark Briggs, Jack Avesyan (Steven Perry 55), Hagop Chirishian (Chukwudi Chijindu 74), Andriy Budnyy
Substitutes not used: Kyle Polak, Tyler Lassiter, Daniel Roberts
Referees:
Referee – Cedric Adams
Referee’s Assistants – Rob Mauws, Matthew Miscannon
4th Official – Michael Miscannon
Match Facts:
Time of Game – 6:00 pm
Weather – Clear
Attendance - 8,421
ORLANDO, Fla. - John Rooney’s two first-half goals were all Orlando City Soccer Club needed, but they scored a couple more in 4-1 win over Wilmington Hammerheads in front of 8,421 raucous fans at the Florida Citrus Bowl, a new regular season record for the Lions.
The result gave the Lions (2-0-0) their second win in as many matches and sent the Hammerheads (0-1-0) to their first loss.
Orlando City opened the match on the offensive, as Jaime Watson went on a run toward Wilmington Goalkeeper Alex Horwath in the opening minutes. Watson attempted a cross to Kevin Molino as Wilmington Defender Tom Parratt reached his arm out in the box - earning himself a handball and Orlando City a penalty kick. Rooney coolly stepped up, forced Hammerheads keeper Alex Horwath to make the first move, and then slotted his shot home into the now-empty net.
City remained on the attack, with Rooney notching his second goal for the Lions in the 41st minute. Molino made a charge on the right flank, crossing to Rooney who had an open lane to the goal. The Englishmen rocketed in a volley to double City’s lead going into halftime, 2-0.
“My confidence went up after scoring the first goal and having the second was a big boost to the team,” said Rooney. “The main thing is that we got the three points and the win.”
The Lions extended their lead even further in the 54th minute, as the 6’3” Rob Valentino jumped over the Wilmington defense from Rooney corner kick to give City the 3-0 lead.
The Hammerheads responded with a nearly identical play to score their first and only goal of the match two minutes later. Hagop Chirishian found Bryce Taylor from a corner kick to cut their deficit to two, 3-1.
Keeping their foot on the pedal, City added an insurance goal in the 65th minute as Kevin Molino found super-sub Dennis Chin streaking down the field for the fourth Lions goal and Molino’s second assist. The total of four goals by Orlando ties a regular season record for most goals scored in a match in franchise history.
Orlando City remained on top the rest of the match, taking three points and the win. The club sits alone on top of the USL PRO table with six points. Head Coach Adrian Heath commented on his team’s play after the match.
“We set our own standards here,” said Heath. “We scored goals in important times during the match and had pockets of good play. I expect that. We have a lot of good players and when we play to our best we are very, very difficult to contain.”
Orlando continues their early portion of the USL season by traveling to Richmond to face the Kickers on Saturday, April 21. The Lions hold a 2-1-0 record against the Kickers all-time, with the last match ending in a 3-0 victory for Orlando in the second round of the 2011 USL PRO playoffs. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
