A strong start to the 2017 season continued Saturday night for the Tulsa Roughnecks as they used a first-half strike from Joey Calistri to post a 1-0 victory over the Rio Grande Valley Toros at a rain soaked ONEOK Field.
Tulsa has now won two-straight matches against playoff teams from the 2016 season – Colorado Springs and Rio Grande Valley.
“As a coach, it’s great having won our first two games,” Roughnecks head coach David Vaudreuil said. “Rio Grande Valley gave us a lot of problems and they were playing between the lines. You can tell they’ve been together and well drilled tactically, and it took us all of the first half to adjust and figure out how to hold them defensively. But we were dangerous and stuck to our game and created a good chance to score.”
Goalkeeper Bryan Byars was named Dick’s Sporting Goods Man of the Match by the Tulsa Roustabouts. The Toros kept Byars busy as he remained diligent, recording eight saves to post his first clean sheet of the season.
The only goal of the game came in the 31st minute when the Roughnecks’ Ian Svantesson found Calistri for his first goal of the season.
Calistri is on loan from Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire, the new affiliate for the Roughnecks. Calistri stayed dangerous throughout the match, setting up two chances and narrowly missing on two other attempts on goal.
The goal was the second professional goal for the Northwestern University product. He scored his first pro goal last year in MLS for the Fire.
“Calistri has been playing very well,” Vaudreuil said. “He’s been getting behind, setting up guys and getting lots of looks at the goal. He is someone we think, with more repetition, is going to keep getting chances, keep scoring goals and keep getting assists. We are extremely happy with him.”
A strong start to the 2017 season continued Saturday night for the Tulsa Roughnecks as they used a first-half strike from Joey Calistri to post a 1-0 victory over the Rio Grande Valley Toros at a rain soaked ONEOK Field.
Tulsa has now won two-straight matches against playoff teams from the 2016 season – Colorado Springs and Rio Grande Valley.
“As a coach, it’s great having won our first two games,” Roughnecks head coach David Vaudreuil said. “Rio Grande Valley gave us a lot of problems and they were playing between the lines. You can tell they’ve been together and well drilled tactically, and it took us all of the first half to adjust and figure out how to hold them defensively. But we were dangerous and stuck to our game and created a good chance to score.”
Goalkeeper Bryan Byars was named Dick’s Sporting Goods Man of the Match by the Tulsa Roustabouts. The Toros kept Byars busy as he remained diligent, recording eight saves to post his first clean sheet of the season.
The only goal of the game came in the 31st minute when the Roughnecks’ Ian Svantesson found Calistri for his first goal of the season.
Calistri is on loan from Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire, the new affiliate for the Roughnecks. Calistri stayed dangerous throughout the match, setting up two chances and narrowly missing on two other attempts on goal.
The goal was the second professional goal for the Northwestern University product. He scored his first pro goal last year in MLS for the Fire.
“Calistri has been playing very well,” Vaudreuil said. “He’s been getting behind, setting up guys and getting lots of looks at the goal. He is someone we think, with more repetition, is going to keep getting chances, keep scoring goals and keep getting assists. We are extremely happy with him.”
Brian Wright, who arrived to Tulsa Saturday, made his professional debut in the 60th minute, coming on for Svantesson. The striker came on loan from the New England Revolution MLS. Wright’s only shot of the night was blocked by the Toros backline.
“Wright is someone we targeted during the combine and he’s a big, up-and-coming prospect,” Vaudreuil said.
The Roughnecks (2-0-0, 6 points) now sit atop the USL Western Conference and will host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, April 8 at ONEOK Field.
Sacramento (1-0-0, 3 points) is in sixth place in the USL Western Conference prior to playing a late game Saturday.
Brian Wright, who arrived to Tulsa Saturday, made his professional debut in the 60th minute, coming on for Svantesson. The striker came on loan from the New England Revolution MLS. Wright’s only shot of the night was blocked by the Toros backline.
“Wright is someone we targeted during the combine and he’s a big, up-and-coming prospect,” Vaudreuil said.
The Roughnecks (2-0-0, 6 points) now sit atop the USL Western Conference and will host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, April 8 at ONEOK Field.
Sacramento (1-0-0, 3 points) is in sixth place in the USL Western Conference prior to playing a late game Saturday.
