Otters Close out May With 5–0 Win at NCFC U-23s
The first month of the season is in the books for the Otters and was capped off with a massive 5–0 win away in Cary, NC for the Otters first USL League Two win of the season. The result marks the Otters first-ever road win in the month of May as well as their second-widest margin of victory in a league game. Following three straight road games to open up the league schedule, the Otters return home to face Lionsbridge FC on June 4th at 7 PM in TVA Credit Union Ballpark! Tickets for that match, as well as the season are on sale now at HappsNow!
The Otters started on the front foot early and never relented. The first goal came less than 15 minutes into the match when goalkeeper Mars Gohier (Florida Southern) sprung the attack down the right side with a great long ball. Taking on two defenders in the box, Guillermo Segovia (Florida Tech) worked enough space to fire a shot into the opposite corner.
Just 20 minutes later, another long ball from Gohier fell to Danilo Seglio (Loyola Maryland) who played into the path of Segovia who raced past the defense and was just able to get the ball past the keeper to double the lead. Defensively, the Otters held strong, anchored by another dominant defensive performance by Jan Gruhn (Shorter) and Sam Catherall (Gardner-Webb). At each fullback spot Gabriel Ramos (ETSU) and Henrik Guenther (ETSU) both were stout defending and able to get forward and send in dangerous passes.
Coming out of halftime leading 2–0, the Otters kept the pressure up. A corner served in by Vinzent Zingel (CSU-Pueblo) found a wide open Catherall on the back post who headed back into the six-yard box where a flick by Gruhn found a wide open Djibril Faye (Radford) to blast the ball home for his first of the season.
The Otters were able to get major contributions out of their bench as well in the second half. In the 77th minute, Alex Lee Yaw (Gannon) sent in a cross with his first touch of the game that found Lars Brinkman (UIS) who skied up for the header and a 4–0 lead. Just four minutes later, Kendall Allen (Indianapolis) served in a cross that found Faye at the top of the box who slipped the ball to Brinkman for the calm finish and final goal of the day. NCFC got their best look late in the game but Gruhn was able to clear it off the goal line and preserve the clean sheet.
The win caps off a month that saw the Otters go 3–2–0 overall and 1–2–0 in league play. The Otters sit in fifth place and prepare to play five of the next six at home. TVA Credit Union Ballpark will be packed with food, Otter Water, games, and more! To get your tickets, head on over to ottersoccer.com and help us #PackThePerch! Follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to make sure you don’t miss anything this summer! #FearTheFur
