The 2016 USL season kicked off for Saint Louis FC inside Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. A back and forth match fell to the Real Monarchs as substitute Maikon Orellana made the most of his time by scoring in stoppage time to seal the victory for the home side.
“If we’re going to make the sort of noise we think we can make in this leauge, that cannot happen.” said Dale Schilly regarding the late goal. “Guys lost their focus, we lost a little bit of discipline the last 10 – 15 minutes of the game and it culminated in an injury time goal, and it killed us.”
Saint Louis created some scoring opportunities throughout the night but had arguably its best chance in the 68th minute when Jamiel Hardware took a free kick from 27 yards that curled around the defensive wall but was kept out by a diving save from keeper Jeff Attinella.
“Both teams had their moments.” said Schilly. “We just shot ourselves in the foot in the final third of the field and couldn’t get that quality service in that could lead to an opportunity.”
A scary moment occurred in the 35th minute when rookie Omar Holness, who was the 5th overall pick by Real Salt Lake in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, collapsed of an apparent seizure and taken to a nearby hospital for further medical treatment. After a twenty minute medical stoppage, the action resumed and both sides attempted to find their rhythm before the first half concluded.
STLFC accumulated two yellow cards as defender James Musa, earned one in the 43rd minute and captain, Chad Bond, picked up one in stoppage time.
Saint Louis FC returns to action on Wednesday, March 30 when they visit LA Galaxy II. The match is set for9:30 P.M. central time and will be streamed live on YouTube or the Match Center on uslsoccer.com.
For information regarding tickets to Saint Louis FC matches, including the home opener on April 16 against the Tulsa Roughnecks, visit saintlouisfc.com, call 636.680.0997 or email [email protected].
