The Rio Grande Valley FC Toros and Orange County SC played to a 1-1 draw in midweek action. Eric Bird scored the goal for the RGV FC Toros off a penalty kick while Dušan Stevanovic scored for Orange County.
The Toros started to find its offensive rhythm early in the first half. TJ Casner tested his luck in the fifth minute but his shot was deflected by the Orange County defense. A minute later, Ruben Luna found himself one on one against Charlie Lyon, goalkeeper for Orange County. Luna’s shot went to the left after he slid to make contact with the ball.
Orange County SC capitalized off a RGV defensive mistake in the 17th minute. Wuilito Fernandes stole the ball from Ivan Magalhaes and set up Dušan Stevanovic for the goal. The Toros would tie the game in the 27th minute from the penalty spot. TJ Casner was fouled inside the box resulting in the penalty kick that Eric Bird buried in for the goal.
TJ Casner kept testing Lyon in the start of the second half, but could not get his shot past the Orange County goalkeeper. Eric Bird almost capitalized off a volley in the 70th minute. His shot forced Lyon to dive for the save and send the ball of out bounds. Kyle Murphy, who entered the game in the second half, almost notched a goal off a header. His shot went slightly to the right of the goal.
Bird had a header in the 85th minute off a Victor Garza cross that barely missed the goal. Both teams kept pushing for the winning goal as the game came to a close. In the 80th minute, Murphy collected the ball inside the box and sent the ball right above the crossbar as he took a shot on the quick turn around. In the other side of the field, Marco Carducci thwarted Orange County’s offensive efforts and kept the match even at 1-1.
Both teams will face each other this upcoming Saturday at Orange County. The match will kick off at 9p.m. The next home game for the Toros is on July 26 against Real Monarchs SLC.
RGV Lineup: Carducci, Greene, Garza, Sagel, Magalhaes, E.Garcia, Casner, James, Bird, Wharton, Luna
OC Lineup: Lyon, Franco, Navarro, Wbias, Oceguada, Sorto, Pineda, Kobayashi, Stevanovic, Jeon, Fernandes,
Scoring Summary
RGV: Bird 27’ (PK)
OC: Stevanovic 17’
