FC Tulsa’s Preseason Draws to a Close at Charleston Battery Awaits Next Saturday
TULSA – A rather blustery day indeed.
With winds reaching 35 mph on Saturday afternoon, FC Tulsa played its final preseason match of 2022 against Sporting Kansas City II, with the visitors finding a last-minute winner for a 1-0 scoreline. Winds wreaked havoc on the match, serving as a 12th man for whichever team was heading South.
FC Tulsa won the coin toss and elected to go with the wind in the first half and took advantage, controlling the majority of possession and the chances in front of fans who came to cheer on the home side. A 5’ minute blast from Darío Suárez that appeared destined for the top corner was fingertipped away by the Sporting KC II keeper, while a Rivas shot in the 37’ minute went over the crossbar by inches.
Unfortunately, captain Bradley Bourgeois took a knock in the opening half and came off as a precaution, changing the complexion of the match.
Ultimately the sides went into the locker rooms scoreless, and the wind advantage flipped to Sporting KC II in the second half as FC Tulsa was forced to play on the ground to avoid the gusts. Like in the first half, the ball was controlled by the wind-aided side with FC Tulsa finding chances hard to come by.
In the 90’ minute, Sporting KC II got a late winner when Tulsa keeper Austin Wormell was forced out of his net to defend an SKC attacker. The ball evaded him and fell kindly in the center of the box to an SKC II player who made no mistake of his shot.
“We’ve really been trying to get on the same page despite the result game after game,” said defender Gabi Torres, who played all 90 minutes. “Bradley [Bourgeois] going down proved a difficult test for us, he’s our captain and one of our best players. But we’re a team of 11 players, and we have about 20 guys that can play. We had a few chances to score, but that’s the game – if you don’t score, you get punished. We have to take the positives out of these games we’ve had and get everything together for the next game next week, when the results really matter.”
The match caps a six-week preseason for FC Tulsa, who now turns it focus to Charleston Battery for a season opening road match next Saturday night. It will be the first of 34 USL Championship matches in the 2022 regular season as FC Tulsa searches for its third consecutive Playoffs appearance.
“So far, we’ve seen what we need to improve at, and we see things that we’re good at,” said head coach Michael Nsien. “We just continue on from there. I feel like our players have gelled together pretty well and at this point it’s about getting up to match fitness, and the only way to get that is to play more matches.”
FC Tulsa will host a free Watch Party at ONEOK Field on Saturday and will show the match on the large video board at ONEOK Field.
Fans can RSVP for the Watch Party here. Gates will open at 5 p.m. with kickoff next weekend at 6 p.m. CT.
