TULSA, OK– (Saturday, August 31st) Tulsa Roughnecks faced off against second place Fresno FC in USL Western Conference Championship play at ONEOK Field. The first half began with a bang in the 5th minute as Rodrigo Da Costa chested the ball to himself and put it into the bottom left corner with a perfect bicycle kick. Midway into the first half, Fresno opened up the game and found an equalizer in the 28th minute with a header from Jaime Chavez off of a free kick. From there the two teams battled back and forth into the break.
At the beginning of the second half the Roughnecks again got off to a hot start when Rodrigo Da Costa played a beautiful long ball along the ground to the feet of Marlon Prazeres where he placed the ball into the net around the keeper. Again Fresno looked to gain momentum after settling back into the game with a collective number of attacks to counter the Roughnecks pressure.
The Roughnecks went into a more defensive shape in the later part of the half which led to more pressure from Fresno. In the 84th minute Brayan Reyes was called for a foul in the penalty area which seemed to be the demise for the Roughnecks’ energetic night. Jackson Pereira stepped to the spot for Fresno and sent the ball over the bar sending ONEOK into a frenzy. After the missed penalty it seemed like a win was just meant to be for the Roughnecks on the cool August night. After a few more nervy attacks from Fresno the referee blew the whistle to give the Roughnecks their well-deserved first victory since April.
Tulsa Roughnecks FC return to ONEOK field Saturday, September 21st when they face Orange County SC. Get your tickets now online at Roughnecksfc.com
LINEUPS – Sean Lewis, Matt Rogers, Cyprian Hedrick, Matt Sheldon, Mallan Roberts,
Brayan Reyes, Manny Gonzalez, Christhian Altamirano, Rodrigo Da Costa, Marlon Prazeres,
Toby Uzo, Panin Mensa (58’), Calvin Rezende (61’) Fredlin Mompremier (79’)
Subs not used – Mason Stajduhar, Walid Yacoubou, Anothony Legendre, AJ Ajeakwa,
Fresno FC – CJ Cochran, Zach Ellis-Hayden, Mickey Daly, Ramon Martin Del Campo,
Elijah Martin, Diego Casillas, Hiroki Kurimoto, Juan Pablo Caffa, Jemal Johnson, Jaime Chavez, Qudus Lawal, Jackson Pereira (45’), Christian Chaney (45’), Jems Geffrard (84’)
Subs not used- Sam Howard, Renato Bustamente, Suleiman Samura, Emir Alidhozic
SCORING SUMMARY
Tulsa Roughnecks 5’ Rodrigo Da Costa, 46’ Marlon Prazeres
Fresno FC 28’ Jaime Chavez
Weather: Sunny, 75°
