ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (August 17, 2024) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies unbeaten streak ended at six matches on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium as the club fell 2-0 to Loudoun United FC. Tampa Bay played down a man for the final half hour of the match after midfielder Blake Bodily picked up a red card.
“After the red card it’s a different game, “said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson. “It’s difficult because obviously they’ve got the lead, and the game starts to open up a wee bit. But I actually thought before that, I couldn’t really criticize the players too much because I thought we passed the ball well, we moved it well. We got into certain areas, but that final moment wasn’t quite there. So that was probably the disappointing thing.”
Tampa Bay held the edge in possession for much of the first half and produced a few promising chances to grab a go-ahead goal but just missed the mark. In the 10th minute, midfielder Joshua Perez fired off a left-footed strike that went wide of the left post by a couple feet. Then in the 22nd minute, midfielder Lewis Hilton ripped a low shot that clipped the left post.
Forward Cal Jennings put the ball in the back of the net only to have the play waived off for a tight offside call.
The visitors broke the deadlock in the 34th minute. Slipping through the back line, Kali ElMedkhar drove forward into the box before picking out teammate Wesley Leggett with a pass for a one-timed finish.
The Rowdies came out brightly to start the second half but the comeback was cut short in the 61st minute when Bodily was shown a second yellow card after coming in late to a 50-50 challenge with Loudoun United keeper Hugo Fauroux.
Only eight minutes after going down to ten men, the Rowdies conceded a second goal. Loudoun United’s leading scorer Zach Ryan notched the tally, heading home a cross from teammate Robby Dambrot.
Tampa Bay’s newest signing, 17-year-old striker Endri Mustali made his professional debut late in the game, as the Rowdies also inserted Damian Rivera and Nate Worth in hopes of finding a way back into the game. The Rowdies finished the night scoreless, though, after directing three shots on frame from 15 total shots.
Next up, the Rowdies are back at Al Lang on Wednesday for a bout with Detroit City FC at 7:30 p.m. ET.
“We just must make sure we get the result of Wednesday, but we have to continue to do what we’ve done all season,” said Neilson. “We’re in a good position. We lost today and we’re disappointed but there were periods of the game where we did really well. We need to keep doing that and finish these final moments. We don’t want to be a team that changes all the time and reacts too much. We’re a good team. As we saw tonight, we didn’t get the result, but we have to continue our process.”
Scoring Summary
LDN – Leggett (ElMedkhar), 34’
LDN – Ryan (Dambrot), 69’
Caution Summary
TBR – Bodily, Yellow Card, 17’
LDN – Dambrot, Yellow Card, 28’
LDN – Leerman, Yellow Card, 53’
TBR – Bodily, Second Yellow Card, Red Card Ejection, 61’
LDN – Aboukoura, Yellow Card, 90+1’
Lineups
Rowdies: Farr, Doherty (Munjoma, 52’), Kleemann, Guillen, Niyongabire, Crisostomo, Hilton (Worth, 78’), Perez (Rivera, 64’), Bodily, Jennings (Mustali, 79’), Arteaga
Rowdies Bench: Breno, Bubb, Munjoma, DeJesus, Worth, Fernandes, Rivera, Mustali, Ortiz
Loudoun: Fauroux, Leerman, Erlandson, Dambrot, Tingey, McCabe, Valot, Awuah, Leggett, Ryan, ElMedkhar
Loudoun Bench: Jacomen, Hughes, Aboukoura, Turner, Johnston, Francois, Wane
