This past Saturday afternoon, the New York Red Bulls II lost 3-0 in their home opener to Loudoun United at MSU Soccer Park.
Saturday was a surprisingly warm afternoon in Montclair, New Jersey and a good crowd filled the stands at MSU Soccer Park to welcome the first home game of the 2022 United Soccer League (USL) Championship season for the New York Red Bulls II.
However, the home team were unable to follow up their 1-0 shutout against Atlanta United II on Mar. 17 with another victory, due in large part to defender Christopher Cragwell's red card in the first half. Saturday's home opener was also new manager, Gary Lewis's first game at MSU Soccer Park, who spent seven years coaching Academy teams and as an Academy Director with the Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders before joining the Red Bulls II in February.
Looking good for the home opener ⚪️🔴
Pres. by @Alementary #NYvLDN | #NYRBII pic.twitter.com/WyCI7igsJF
— New York Red Bulls II (@NYRBII) March 19, 2022
It's been a rough opening week for Coach Lewis and the Baby Bulls. Since opening the 2022 USL Championship season on the road against The Miami FC on March 12th, the Red Bulls II have traveled 1,572 miles and that is roughly as far a trip as it is from New York, New York to Dallas, Texas! The USL Championship league office did not do the New York Red Bulls II any favors by having them play their first four games of the season in just 12 days, but without further ado, here is what happened during the home opener at MSU Soccer Park on Saturday Mar. 19.
The Baby Bulls Strong Start
The game started off decently for the Red Bulls II, who had equal possession of the ball as the visitors, Loudoun United had. Manager Gary Lewis used three forwards in an attacking 4-3-3 formation. These three forwards are all new to the team and go by the names of Jordan Adebayo-Smith, Zachary Ryan and Jonathan Filipe. All three contributed to their team's four shot attempts in the first 15 minutes of the match, which showed that the Red Bulls II had the upper hand during the start of Saturday's home opener.
No matter how strong the Red Bulls II started the match, they suffered a huge setback when defender Christopher Cragwell, who was signed this offseason, was shown a straight red card. The play started in the 26th minute when Loudoun United's forward, Jackson Hopkins dribbled down the center of the field towards the Baby Bull 18-yard-box. When the 17-year-old striker made a move to his left he was met by a Cragwell's sliding tackle, which included his right foot, or 'studs' up in the air. The reckless nature of the challenge forced the referee to show Cragwell a straight red card and this would reduce the home team from eleven to ten men for the rest of the match.
Despite outplaying Loudoun United during the first 25 minutes, the Red Bulls II would play with ten men for the remainder of their home opener. Nevertheless, the Red Bulls II refused to fold during that first half. Coach Lewis substituted in center-back Lamine Conte for Cragwell which made sure that the Baby Bulls still had four defenders on their backline. However, the most visible performers during this first half were two other defenders.
One was center back Juan Castillo, who was a regular starter on last year's team and the 19-year-old from Colombia used his speed and tackling skills to stop Loudoun United every chance he had. While on the other hand, the captain of the Red Bulls II, John Murphy, who played for the Baby Bulls during the 2018 season, showed leadership by hustling and encouraging his teammates during the first half at MSU Soccer Park.
The Baby Bulls only shot-on-goal in the first half was taken by Jordan Adebayo-Smith, who started as the center forward in this game. The play started when Red Bulls II midfielder Sam Williams won the ball from an opponent in Loudoun's defensive half. The 17-year-old who played last year then dribbled towards the 18-yard box and passed to Zachary Ryan, who then made a cheeky backheel pass over to Adebayo-Smith.
The English striker shot with his right foot low and in the center of the goal and his shot was saved rather easily, and thus was a wasted opportunity for Gary Lewis's side to score the first goal of their home opener.
Our Save of the Match by Luis Zamudio 🐙#LetsRide🐎 | @GoSegra pic.twitter.com/AkCQzSyzGr
— Loudoun United FC (@LoudounUnitedFC) March 20, 2022
However, Loudoun would respond at the end of the first half. When Loudoun midfielder Kaniri Smith had a breakaway and shot with his right foot, AJ Marcucci made a dramatic reaction save. He then kept out the follow up chance from Jacob Greene which kept the visitors from overtaking Red Bull.
Clutch.
0-0 | #NYvLDN | #NYRBII pic.twitter.com/iJ4sYqHrCO
— New York Red Bulls II (@NYRBII) March 19, 2022
The Second Half at MSU Soccer Park
It took just seven minutes after the half started for the Baby Bulls to concede. It happened when Loudoun United were controlling the ball, in their attacking half and in the center of midfield. All of a sudden quick passing caught the Red Bull defense by surprise and a through ball put ahead for Tyler Freeman was capitalized on with a cool left footed strike that ended the Red Bull goalkeeper, AJ Marcucci's shutout.
- 58- Jordan Adebayo-Smith OUT, Ezra Widman IN
Loudoun took a 2-0 lead when the Red Bulls defense fell prey to a long ball sent by an opposing midfielder. The long ball went over the heads of the Baby Bull backline and was trapped by streaking forward, right footed striker Freeman and the D.C. United product was able to score on his weak foot on the run past Marcucci to give Loudoun a 2-0 lead.
However, this Baby Bulls team are a young and scrappy bunch, and they did not surrender. In the 68th minute, Red Bulls II captain John Murphy took a hard shot aimed at the upper-right corner of the net that just missed and the Red Bull captain threw his hands in the air in agony. Disaster averted for Loudoun, missed tying goal for Red Bull and then many of the starters were subbed after playing 70 minutes at a man disadvantage. Three young musketeers entered the game for Red Bull, Curtis Ofori (16), Ilia Tyrkus (17) and Arian Recinos (17). I was sitting next to the parent of Tyrkus and Widman and found out that all of these players were on Red Bull Academy's Under-13 team before, so these four players were very familiar with one another.
Not long after these substitutions were made by Coach Lewis, the Red Bulls II regained momentum. Ezra Widman made a forward run and was found by a pass from Tyrkus. The 17-year-old from New Jersey then popped the ball down the right side of the field for Rafanello, who took the ball and sent a low cross into the box that was cleared. Widman showed poise when he took control of the ball in the midfield during the second half. The 17-year-old Red Bull Academy product was able to slow the game down and send long passes into the attacking third of the field which showed maturity beyond the young Red Bulls II player's years.
However, as the game inched closer to its end, fatigue caught up with the Red Bulls II. The nail in the coffin came from another long through ball played towards the Red Bulls 18-yard-box. On this Loudoun play, midfielder Jacob Greene ran onto the ball and scored on the run with his left-foot, giving the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead and that was all she wrote on Saturday.
Postgame Reactions from the Red Bulls II
In the end, the home opener may have been spoiled for Coach Lewis and a Baby Bulls team but this level of professional soccer is no different from any other. It's no different because the season is long and the Baby Bulls team, which has several players under the age of 18, will have ample time to train and make adjustments to their individual games as well as how the team plays as a whole.
Coach Lewis during the postgame press conference, put the home opener right around St. Patrick's Day in perspective:
There is a lot to learn but we’re in a great position. All of these things you’re trying to
prepare players for the future, so these things they’ll learn from. It’s great experience for all of us. To say if this happens at the higher level… You just keep pushing and working and coaching. That’s all you can do. - Head Coach Gary Lewis
Scotch Plains native, John Murphy made his third start in this home opening game. The 21-year-old was named captain right before the season started and Coach Lewis praised his tenacity and leadership, but there is no question that the Red Bulls II lacked those qualities today. The midfielder who developed his game in the New York Red Bulls Academy's U-23 team, discussed what his team need to do between now and their next game against Louisville City FC.
Tomorrow we’ll take a breath, try and get our legs back and then we’re right back at it and we start prepping for Louisville. Like you said, we can't feel sorry for ourselves. Atlanta went on the road and almost got a result [against Louisville], and we feel like we dominated Atlanta, so we always have a chance in every game. Points are crucial now especially with two losses so far. - Red Bulls II Captain, John Murphy
The Red Bulls II will be looking to get back on track this coming Wednesday when they face Louisville City FC at home at 7:00 PM.
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