After falling 6-0 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies, New York Red Bulls II responded with a strong performance against San Antonio FC despite suffering a 2-1 defeat.
“We had a couple moments in the first half where if we finished our plays a little better maybe the game is different,” Head Coach John Wolyniec said following the match. “I give credit to the guys, they fought the whole way and at the end they were scrapping to try and get something and almost got a result out of the game.”
New York created several offensive chances both early and throughout the match, culminating in the 55th minute with a goal from midfielder Kyle Zajec.
“We know we can always create opportunities,” Zajec said. “It’s just kind of can we finish those opportunities. With the performance tonight, I was happy to see us in front of goal making some good plays and I just hope we can finish those plays in the next game.”
For the match, New York outshot San Antonio 15-9.
“We were just calmer and more confident on the ball, a little more aggressive and a little more willing to play forward,” Wolyniec said. “We were not always creating dangerous chances, but we were certainly able to impose ourselves on the game and have decent stretches.”
For New York, the goal going forward will be to eliminate certain moments that can decide a match.
“We let a couple of mistakes get to us, we kind of fell asleep and let them get a couple goals and it made it difficult for us,” Wolyniec said. “Overall, good response, but still finding ways to kind of hurt ourselves, so we have to continue to work on that whether it is a better focus or better mentality during the game.”
