Saints lose inaugural I-71 Cup

June 11th, 2015

Charlie Hatch

The Cincinnati Saints fell 2-1 to AFC Cleveland on Wednesday night in second leg of the I-71 Cup. On aggregate the Royals beat the Saints 3-1, scoring the other goal in the first meeting this past Saturday.

“They’re a very good team, and from top to bottom they were better than us” assistant coach Jamie Starr said. “At halftime they made the changes they were supposed to make and we didn’t adjust well to their pressure, and we gave up two goals early.

“We need to do a better job at being more disciplined in our team shape, a lot better on the offensive side of the ball. To be honest, they were just a very good team.”

The Saints took the lead in the 39th minute when midfielder RJ Best had room 25 yards out and drove the ball into the bottom right corner. The early goal tied the Cup aggregate 1-1.

“I got the ball with plenty of space,” Best said. “Someone got pressure on me and forced me towards the goal instead of away from the goal and I took a touch towards goal and shot it.”

Cincinnati went into the break with a 1-0 lead, but gave up a goal in the 52nd minute to Sergio Manesio. In the 72nd minute the Royals took the lead on a pile-driver from James Haupt into the roof of the net.

Despite the Saints losing Wednesday night, the match was ruled as a friendly. Saturday’s loss was a National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) match.

“Any time we lose I feel the same way, “ Best said. “A loss is a loss.”

Goals-

RJ Best (’39)

Sergio Monesio – Cleveland – (’52)

James Haupt – Cleveland – (’72)

Discipline-

Drew Midkiff (yellow)

Meyer (Cleveland) (yellow)

Statistics

Shots – Cincinnati 6, AFC Cleveland 16

Shots on target – Cincinnati 6, AFC Cleveland 6

Corners – Cincinnati 1, AFC Cleveland 3

Possession – Cincinnati 44, AFC Cleveland 56

Fouls – Cincinnati 6, AFC Cleveland 7

Starters

Cincinnati Saints- (4-2-3-1)

Corey Whisenhunt, Gary Henderson, James Thomas, Drew Midkiff, Mitch Deyhle, Ryan Handburry, Scott Shugh, Marc Hansson, Andre Sharpe, RJ Best, Khristian Montoya

Subs-

Justin Smith, Anton Nicklason, Craig Heard, Nathan Sexton, Kidus Tadele, Tony Wigham, Jon Cottrell

AFC Cleveland (4-5-1)

Flowers, Haupt, Long, Meyer, Dambrot, Ferguson, Grant, Murray, Bencina, Beck, Manesio