CINCINNATI, OHIO (September 16, 2017) – New York Red Bulls II (11-12-5, 38 points) dropped a 4-2 result to FC Cincinnati (10-9-9, 39 points), Saturday night at Nippert Stadium ending their six-game unbeaten run.
Cincinnati opened the scoring in the ninth minute of the match with Austin Berry tucking a header past a diving Rafael Diaz off a set piece opportunity. Berry scored the second goal of the U.S. Open Cup semifinal match at Nippert last month against New York’s first team in a 3-2 loss.
NYRB II quickly responding in the 19th minute as Florian Valot one-timed a set piece ball from the foot of Vincent Bezecourt to equalize. The goal was Florian’s fourth of the season and Bezecourt’s ninth assist of the season putting him back into a first-place tie for the league lead.
Junior Flemmings came close to equalizing for the away side in the 55th minute with a shot off a rebound that nailed the crossbar keeping the shot out of the back of the net.
Cincinnati scored three unanswered goals in the 32nd, 67th and 72nd minutes to push Cincinnati past a New York team that saw them out-possess the home side by a 65-35 percent margin as well as outshoot Cincinnati 18-9.
Valot brought a goal back for NYRB II in the 80th minute, his fifth of the season, to complete his brace on the night.
Tonight also saw Gideon Baah return to the pitch most recently being loaned down to NYRB II after recovering from a broken tibia injury he suffered in 2016. He is not eligible for the first team the rest of 2017 due to being on the season-ending injury list.
Despite the loss, NYRB II dropped only one spot in the Eastern Conference standings to seventh place with Cincinnati leapfrogging them with the win.
New York has an off-week coming up and will see them return to the pitch on September 30 as they close out their home schedule for 2017 at MSU Soccer Park with a matchup against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
New York: Diaz; Powder (Gideon Baah, 86th minute), Ndam, Scarlett, Najem, Tinari (Douglas Martinez, 75th minute), Metzger, Bezecourt, Flemmings, Valot (Zeiko Lewis, 86th minute), Bonomo
Cincinnati: Hildebrandt; Bahner, Berry (Nicholson, 45th minute), de Wit, Hoyte, Delbridge, Walker, Bone, McLaughlin, Djiby (Konig, 55th minute), Wiedeman (Greig, 88th minute)
Scoring:
New York: Valot 4 (Bezecourt) 19’, Valot 5 (Metzger)
Cincinnati: Berry 5’, Bone 32’, Delbridge 67’, Walker 72’
Discipline:
New York: Baah (caution) 88th minute
Cincinnati: Berry (caution) 9th minute, Djiby (caution) 14th minute, Wiedeman (caution) 23rd minute, Bahner (caution) 26th minute, Delbridge (caution) 73rd minute, Bone (caution) 76th minute
