19 Jul MATCH RECAP NISA CUP – MAGIA FUTBOL ACADEMY – JULY 17, 2021
ASC SUFFERERS LOSS IN FIRST MATCH OF NISA INDEPENDENT CUP
This past Saturday July, 17, ASC San Diego played their first of three matches in the 1st round of the 2021 NISA Independent Cup tournament. The Independent Cup, introduced last year as a regionalized competition, provides independent professional and amateur clubs a platform to play together on a national stage, similar to the US Open Cup. To get their tourney started, San Diego’s team hosted the Orange County based Magia Futbol Academy at Mission Bay Stadium.
With the end of ASC’s NPSL summer season the team and coaches were able to shake up the roster for Cup play mixing some new, young personnel from the ALBION SC Development Academy with some of the standards from the previous months. Though they didn’t get the outcome they were hoping for in this first match, the team showed that they definitely have many strengths that will be a threat in the coming matches.
The match started with ASC showing some strong defensive play. They were able to thwart a few early attempts by the away side to get in front of their net. Defender Parise Maukwede made a big footed stop of an attempt by Magia to get a cross ball into dangerous territory. Midfielder Ross Johnstone quickly followed that up with a super clean slide tackle breaking up another Magia point grab, disallowing the ability to get into range.
Despite ASC showing huge stopping power, Magia were able to get between the pipes in the 23rd minute. A foul committed by ASC center midfielder Khadim Seye happened to take place just inside the box creating a penalty kick situation. Goalkeeper Kayden Kropf, ALBION SC youth player, made the correct call on the direction of the kick but was only able to get fingertips on the ball and the point was scored for the away side. This score by the opponents lit a fire under the home team and they made their presence known in front of the MFA net. But the forward push was not enough to equalize and the score at the midway break was 0 -1.
San Diego still seemed to have that fire lit when the second 45 got underway. Forward Alex Churness had several rapid fire attempts that were just short of the mark. Unfortunately the tide of the match was about to shift. In the 51st minute Magia was making a drive for ASC’s net. Kropf saw a chance for a stop that took him several yards from the net. But he miscalculated and Magia Futbol was able to keep possession past him and made an easy touch into the net. The 63rd and 79th minutes saw two more for MFA onto the scoreboard. ASC was, however, able to stop the clean sheet for the opponents. Churness was rewarded when one of his many shot attempts got past the Magia keeper making the final score ASC San Diego 1 – 4 Magia Futbol Academy.
ASC has two more chances to move past this round robin portion of the tournament. Their next match is another one at Mission Bay Stadium against NISA powerhouse LA Force. The Force were second place overall in NISA standings for the 2021 spring season. This match will be exciting and a must watch for ASC faithful! Kickoff is at 7:00 sharp. If you can’t make the match in person you can catch all the action live on www.mycujoo.tv.
—– MATCH RECAP PRESENTED BY MARYBETH ZMUDA —–
Photo credit : Keith and Michelle Dereld