The Boys in Blue’s second half comeback attempt fell short on the road at SC United on June 27th.

The action started in the 5th minute when the Blues forced a turnover on the right flank. Alex Andersson would whip a ball into the box aiming for Matty Cornish in the middle of the 6 but a Bantams defender was able to win the header and clear his line.

10 minutes later the hosts were able to find the opener. A long diagonal and a lay-off sprung Dylan Sumner free on the right flank. He took the ball to the touchline and slid a pass over to Jacques Fokam on the 6 who tucked the ball home to give the Bantams a 1-0 lead.

The Blues would create another opportunity in the 42nd minute when Andersson received a feed on the edge of the box on the right side. Andersson turned his defender and blasted a tight-angle shot towards the far post but the strike went just wide.

In stoppage time of the first half the Bantams would find another. After Arnaud Baron went down in the box, penalty shouts arose from the Bantams. Baron was able to capitalize on the confusion and poke a ball across to Leslie Jones who finished it into the bottom right corner to put SC United up 2-0.

Despite a poor performance in the first half, the Blues flipped the game on its head and dominated the second half.

In the 52nd minute the Blues created some danger. Max Miller received a pass outside of the box on the left side and whipped a curling effort towards the upper right corner but his shot would go just high.

In the 66th minute, the Blues would finally get on the board. Juan Balls received a pass and dribbled through the Bantams defense on the right side of the box before unleashing a near-post strike that was palmed away by Wyatt Kistner. However, the rebound would bounce out to Simon Carlsen who hammered home the rebound to cut the Bantams lead in half and make the game 2-1.

In the 70th minute, Ballas created more danger when he was slipped down the right flank. He sent a low-driven cross that did not find a receiver till it rolled to Josiah Blanton towards the left side of the box. Blanton released a near-post shot but the attempt went just wide.

3 minutes later the Blues would come close to the equalizer again when Quenzi Huerman’s corner found Alec McKinley’s head in the middle of the box. He aimed his header at the ground but an unlucky and hard bounce had it sail narrowly over the crossbar as the Bantams held onto their lead.

The rest of the match was filled with chippiness and more Blues chances, but none would find the back of the net as the Blues fell 2-1 to SC United.

In the midst of all of this, Alec McKinley was given a red card in the 90th minute and will miss the next game.

“Last year we had this situation occur at One Knoxville, and it was a season-defining moment and across my career there have been season-defining moments where we’ve had to face a little bit of adversity and sometimes that’s good moving forward,” said Wells. “We’re still top of the league and now we have a fight in the last four games and you want players that can rise to that opportunity, so yeah we’re ready.”

The Men will next travel down to Georgia to face Southern Soccer Academy on July 1st in the 2nd game of their 3-game road trip.

The Women will make their own trek to South Carolina on July 28th, when they face off against the Greenville Liberty on the road.