Saturday, August 24 – 7:30 PM ET | Segra Field
LEESBURG, VA- On an 80-degree Saturday night, Loudoun United and Rhode Island FC ended in a 0-0 draw as the teams battled for 7th place in the Eastern Division of the USL Championship.
Rhode Island started strong getting the first corner of the game within 30 seconds of match play. Dikwa made a run in behind the Loudoun line, whipping the ball in to Fuson who took a heavy touch just outside the 6-yard box allowing for McCabe to keep it ahead of the goal line.
A cross from Turnbull forced Fauroux to come off his line and punch the ball out. His punch fell to Holstad, who took a touch and fired a shot towards the goal. An outstretched Fauroux made a big save to keep the game deadlocked at zero.
Loudoun United struggled to see the offensive end of the field in the first half, only getting two shots. However, Leggett came inches away from opening the scoring early in the second half. In the 58th minute, a cross to the back post from ElMedkhar found a falling Legget who tried twice but could not make a clean connection allowing Vegas to palm the ball off the goal line. The ball fell to Ryan who tried taking a touch and shooting. He would have likely found the net if not for a strong diving tackle by Duggan.
In the 78th minute Aboukoura received the ball just outside the box and managed to beat his man attempting to curl one into the far-right side of the net. Vegas managed to get over just in time to make a sprawled out save.
At the dying embers of the game Gavin Turner received a cross from Awuah but was clipped, creating a penalty. After almost two minutes of discussion Ryan was able to take the penalty choosing to go left, but Vegas made the save, securing a hard-fought road point for Rhode Island.
Post Match Conversations
Head Coach Ryan Martin on match takeaways
“I’m proud of the guys in terms of the way they fought, the quality and intensity increased in the second half… and to get to where we want to go, Tommy McCabe said it best, ‘how do we win our attacking box?’ And that’s what it’s going to all come down to….”
Florian Valot on the next game
“We want to extend our winning streak at home, make it a fortress. So it will be important to put a good performance to get those three points and of course focus on the shutout as well.”
Quick Notes
- Following tonight’s match, Hugo Fauroux has broken the Loudoun United FC single-season clean sheet record with eight clean sheets
- Florian Valot tallied his 10,000th career USL Championship minute
- Alex Nagy makes his first professional career match day squad
- Loudoun return home on August 31 to take on Phoenix Rising FC at 7:15pm E.T. Hometown Heroes Night will honor active and retired military, first responders, and government employees.
