After multiple delays due to severe weather in Madison, Wis., Spokane Velocity FC (7-5-5) dropped the first of three straight road matches in 2-0 fashion to Forward Madison FC (8-2-7).
Despite the loss, Velocity remains in the playoff picture at 7th on the table, while the win boosts Forward Madison to 2nd.
“We pride ourselves in putting together performances that produce results, as we’ve seen in the six unbeaten league games we just came off of, but tonight wasn’t our best,” said head coach Leigh Veidman.
After an hour long delay pregame, the match witnessed a first-half Forward Madison score before another weather delay shut down the contest in the 53rd minute. The second delay postponed the match just shy of two more hours. Once play resumed, Forward Madison scored another goal on a short-handed Velocity squad after a red card was given to Velocity midfielder Masango Akale.
The match got off to a tough start for Velocity, as captain Luis Gil went down with a leg injury less than a minute into the contest. As he made his way to the sideline, the captain’s armband was handed off to Collin Fernandez.
“Obviously losing a player of Luis’ quality hurts, but our overall team performance was not what it needed to be to beat a team of Madison’s quality,” said Veidman.
In the 16th minute of the match, Flamingo midfielder John Murphy uncorked a shot from well outside the box, sending the ball into the top right corner of the net before Velocity keeper Brooks Thompson could make a saving effort.
As the half progressed, Velocity made good runs to the box, but no clear paths opened for quality looks, and Velocity registered a lone off-target shot in the first half.
The second half was highlighted early on by a great sliding save by Collin Fernandez on a Forward Madison fast break. It appeared the Flamingos would get a one-on-one matchup with Thompson, but Fernandez’s hustle allowed for him to get between the ball and Thompson.
Less than a minute later, the game was delayed due to weather once again. Play was resumed at 7:05 p.m., and Velocity took to the pitch once more.
Soon after, in the 59th minute, Masango Akale committed a foul, and subsequently booted the ball away earning the 22-year-old a red card. As a result, Velocity played a man down for the remainder of the match.
“There were definitely tough circumstances in the game,” said Thompson.”Always hard to go away at a place like Madison but I thought we did a decent job of playing. Just have to learn from this game and move onto the next and get better.”
Thompson finished the night with eight saves, and was given GOAT of the match honors.
Forward Madison struck again in the 66th minute, with a top-shelf strike from Derek Gebhard.
As the game progressed, Velocity just didn’t have the numbers to make threatening runs to the goal, and despite a 51-49 split in possession time, were unable to put a shot on target.
The closest moment for a second-half score came in the third minute of added time via a Jack Denton corner kick. His kick was on a path to arc into the top right of the net, but was saved by Forward Madison keeper Bernd Schipmann.
As Velocity approaches the middle of its three match road trip, they look to regain their momentum in a rematch against top-ranked Union Omaha on Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. PT. The last time the two clubs tangled came less than a month ago when Velocity nabbed a 2-1 home victory en route to a six-point week.
“As always, we learn, grow and put our full focus on what we need to do to beat Omaha,” said Veidman.
