Atlanta United 2 battled against Group H leaders Tampa Bay Rowdies but ultimately fell 2-1 at Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Phillip Goodrum scored his first professional goal.
Tampa Bay started the match on the front foot and put Atlanta under pressure in the opening minutes. Ben Lundgaard was called into action in the eighth minute when he made a save from Malik Johnson’s shot. Four minutes later, Lundgaard denied Sebastian Dalgaard’s header. In the 21st minute, Tampa took the lead from Jordan Doherty’s long-range shot into the bottom left corner.
The lead doubled in the 39th minute when Kyle Murphy picked out the top right corner from outside the box. The halftime score was 2-0 in favor of the Rowdies.
Atlanta’s attack picked up in the second half. Coleman Gannon had a shot saved in the 63rd minute. Abdoulaye Diop saw a left-footed strike go inches past the post later in the half. In the 70th minute, Lundgaard came up big again when he stopped a penalty kick from the Rowdies’ top goal scorer Sebastian Guenzatti. Phillip Goodrum then picked up his first professional goal when he converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute. Unfortunately, ATL UTD 2 was unable to find an equalizer in stoppage time.
ATL UTD 2 (1-7-3, 6 points) will have a little bit of time off before traveling to Philadelphia Union II on Sept. 2 for its next match (7:30 p.m., ESPN+).
MATCH INFO
Atlanta 1, Tampa Bay 2
Al Lang Stadium
Tampa, Florida
STATS
Shots: 17-9 Tampa
Shots on Target: 9-3 Tampa
Corner kicks: 3-2 Tampa
Fouls committed: 17-12 Atlanta
Offside: 0-0
Possession: 52-48 Tampa
Passing Accuracy: 86-81 Tampa
SCORING SUMMARY
TBR – Jordan Doherty 21’ (Yann Ekra)
TBR – Kyle Murphy 39‘ (Yann Ekra)
ATL – Phillip Goodrum 90‘ (penalty)
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
ATL – Amadou Macky Diop 37’ (yellow)
ATL – Baboucarr Njie 45+1’ (yellow)
TBR – Yann Ekra 45+2’ (yellow)
ATL UTD 2 STARTING LINEUP
Ben Lundgaard; Caleb Wiley, Modou Jadama ©, Patrick Nielsen (Efrain Morales 46’), Jack Gurr (Matthew Edwards 71’); William Reilly, Abdoulaye Diop, Baboucarr Njie (Ajani Fortune 71’); Coleman Gannon, Lamin Jawneh (Amir Bashti 56’), Amadou Macky Diop (Phillip Goodrum 60’).
Substitutes not used: Vicente Reyes, Daniel Steedman.
TAMPA BAY ROWDIES STARTING LINEUP
Evan Louro; Forrest Lasso, Jordan Scarlett, Aaron Guillen; Sebastian Dalgaard (Leo Fernandes 71’), Yann Ekra (Lewis Hilton 71’), Malik Johnson (Mustapha Dumbuya 77’), Jordan Doherty; Kyle Murphy (Lucky Mkosana 62’ – Adam Najem 77’), Sebastian Guenzatti ©, Juan Tejada
Substitutes not used: Macklin Robinson, Max Lachowecki.
OFFICIALS
Gabriel Giusti (referee), Albert Escovar (assistant), Sean-Michael Kemp (assistant), Tori Penso (fourth)
TEAM NOTES
- Phillip Goodrum scored his first professional goal tonight
- Ben Lundgaard set a new season-high with 7 saves tonight. He leads USL Championship with 42 saves on the season
