MELBOURNE, Fla. (September 6, 2016) – Orlando City B (8-10-8, 32 points) begins a four-game road trip Wednesday at the Wilmington Hammerheads (6-11-9, 27 points). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET at Legion Stadium. The match will be streamed live at www.OrlandoCitySC.com/Live.
“It’s not an easy place to go to, Wilmington. We know we’re going to be in for a battle. It’s going to be one of those where we have to roll our sleeves up and fight. It’ll be dealing with their direct play, making sure we’re winning second balls and being very organized on set pieces,” OCB Head Coach Anthony Pulis said. “Again, it’ll be a good experience for some of the younger guys, understanding that you can’t always go to certain places and play pretty, attacking soccer. This is going to be one of those games and we’re going to have to show that we can do the other side of the game in order to try and be successful.”
With just four games remaining in its inaugural United Soccer League (USL) season, OCB holds a five-point cushion over Harrisburg City, Bethlehem and Wilmington on the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Lions closed out their 2016 home slate with a 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Saturday. Chevaughn Walsh opened the scoring in the 23rd minute despite OCB holding large spells of possession. Midfielder Andrew Ribeiro struck the post on a hard shot from distance late in the second half but former Lion Corey Hertzog iced the match in stoppage time as OCB was pushed up in search of the equalizer.
Michael Cox leads the team with 10 goals while Hadji Barry and Tyler Turner have four goals each. Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers’ three-save performance against PIttsburgh moved him into a tie for the league lead with 92 saves.
Wilmington is coming off a 2-2 draw at FC Montreal last Wednesday. Austin Martz equalized in the 73rd minute and Michael Mecham scored the go-ahead goal for Wilmington in the 81st but Montreal’s Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored in the 89th minute.
Ashani Fairclough and Bruno Caldini Perone lead the Hammerheads with five and six goals, respectively, while Mael Corboz has four assists in 14 appearances this season. Goalkeeper John Smits leads the team with 46 saves in 16 games.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between these teams. The Lions fell to Wilmington 2-1 in its first-ever game on March 26 before earning a 2-2 draw in Melbourne on July 24.
OCB continues the road trip on Sunday, Sept. 11, at Toronto FC II with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The Lions then head to Cincinnati on Sept. 17 before closing out the regular season on Sept. 25 at Bethlehem.
