Saturday night at Greenwood Field, Asheville City SC hosted Montgomery FC for their sixth match of the USL League 2 (USL2) season. Despite the match being a cagey affair throughout, the Blues stayed disciplined and showcased their best on this rainy Saturday evening.
The Blues wasted no time taking ahold of the match, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in the seventh minute through Edouard Nys. A well-placed left side cross from Michael Rempel found the sliding right foot of Nys, whose shot zipped into the side netting for Asheville’s first goal of the match.
The Blues nearly doubled their lead just 4 minutes later, when Rempel received a piercing over-the-top ball from Agustin Resch. Rempel drove towards the net and unleashed a powerful left-footed shot towards the far post that was met with a strong left hand from Montgomery FC goalkeeper William Blake to keep the deficit at one.
Photo by Cam Shook
The Blues continued to pile pressure on in the first half, and were able to double their lead through Kimito Fritz in the 33rd minute. Nys dropped a perfectly lofted through ball to Issah Haruna, who drove at Blake with pace, drawing him out to the edge of the penalty area before laying it off to Fritz who slotted the ball perfectly into the top right corner to make it 2-0.
ACSC showed no signs of slowing down in the second half, once again scoring within the first 10 minutes of the half. Nys was once again the architect for this one with a little help from a goalkeeping error. His long ball skipped right under the foot of Blake and into the path of Haruna, who finished easily into an open net from the left side of the box to give the Blues a 3-0 lead in the 49th minute.
In the 59th minute, Nys connected with Tony Kim to finish off his hat trick of assists on the day. Nys played a finessed through ball from the far right side of pitch into the path of Kim, who placed it into the bottom right corner of the net with his first touch of the game to make it 4-0 to Asheville City.
The Men in Blue weren’t done just yet, as they netted their fifth and final goal of the match in the 66th minute through Casper Svendby. A cross-field ping from Resch was received flawlessly by Kim at the opposite sideline. Kim then played an underlapping Jack Casey into space, who drove into the box at pace before sending a low cross right to the foot of Svendby. Svendby finished the chance into the bottom left corner of the net with ease, making it 5-0 to ACSC.
Photo by Cam Shook
After the match, Asheville City SC head coach Scott Wells praised his team’s concentration following Wednesday’s narrow victory.
“I think the big thing for me today, from the first minute, I could tell that the energy was there. The concentration was there and we executed really, really well,” said Wells. “Overall, the difference was the level of detail in the preparation that they put on themselves today.”
Asheville City SC extended their win streak to 4 games, taking a firmer grip at the top of the South Central Division table. The five goals scored tonight brings their goal tally on the season to 21. The Blues have also yet to concede a goal this season, the only team in the nation to do so.
The Men in Blue head on a two-game road trip with stops in Birmingham and Columbus before returning home on June 21st to take on Dothan United at 7:30 PM. The Women in Blue return to Greenwood Field on June 15th when they host the Chattanooga Red Wolves at 4:00 PM. You can buy your tickets here.
Tag(s): News