Honors even for Legion II in frenetic affair
Birmingham Legion II and Southern Soccer Academy could not be separated Tuesday in a breathless, at-times highly physical encounter Tuesday.
A very physical battle between Birmingham Legion II and Southern Soccer Academy ended in a stalemate Tuesday night.
Despite a subpar first-half performance by the semi-pro Legion players, the teams went scoreless into the break. Both sides then upped the intensity in the second period, leading to a frenetic, 45-minute back-and-forth that ended with one goal either side.
“Tale of two halves,” Carlo Schiavoni, Legion II head coach, said. “I thought we started off really, really poorly. … Second half, made adjustments, did fairly well, but conceded a soft goal after we scored. Overall, I think 1-1 is a fair result.”
Legion II got the first real chance of the game, Lucas Rizzo blasting a free-kick straight at the keeper in the 10th minute. But from then, Southern Soccer Academy went on the ascendency.
The visitors sent one shot just wide in the 13th minute before forcing a fine save from Legion II keeper Brock Marlow in the 21st. A cross from the right side was headed at goal from point blank range, but the young shot stopper showed quick reflexes to get up and tip it over the bar.
SSA then tore through the Legion team in just three passes in the 27th minute. A long ball from the keeper was knocked down in midfield and sprayed wide to a winger who forced another save from Marlow.
The man between the sticks proved a real difference maker on several more occasions, including a great low save to his right just moments before the halftime whistle.
“We have four great goalkeepers,” Schiavoni said. “I thought Brock did a phenomenal job tonight. He made the saves I thought he should have made and made a couple of saves I was really impressed with. He kept us in this game when he needed to.”
For Legion II’s attack, the first half was a tale of near misses.
Aidan Marquez ran onto a through ball in the 41st minute but was just too slow to get there before the goalkeeper’s clearance. Three minutes later, William Woodward did get to a through ball first and pulled the goalkeeper out of position with a run to the byline, but nobody was there to poke his cutback into the empty net.
With the score 0-0 at the break, Schiavoni said his players knew they were lucky not to be trailing. Other than one adjustment to the team’s use of the width, he said his halftime talk was more about encouraging a bit more bravery than anything else.
“We just looked scared in the first half,” the head coach said. “You step over that line, if you’re not brave this game will eat you up. So might as well go and make mistakes, but be brave and go forward.”
Legion II’s newfound determination led to a gilt-edge chance not even 10 minutes after the restart.
A quick break down the left flank ended with a low cross sent across the box, where Mark Shoebridge was free to rush in at the back post. The midfielder connected with the ball inches from an open net, but could not redirect it accurately enough and saw his effort clatter off the post and out of play.
The game went up several levels of intensity during that period, with the first yellow card coming out in the 58th. Both teams made it a very physical battle the further it wore on, with multiple more bookings dished out to both sides before the night was up.
After Shoebridge hit the post in the 53rd, Ty Sanchez saw an effort of his own come off the crossbar in the 62nd.
At the other end, Marlow continued to keep his team in it with important saves in both the 64th and 68th. On both occasions, the goalkeeper showed great ability to get down quickly, parrying a shot low to his left and low one to his right, respectively.
It was the intense physical nature of the game that ended up leading to the breakthrough, the goal coming off a free-kick in the 72nd minute.
Rizzo sent the set-piece into the box from a deep position, and Alan Melendez found space to power a header past the goalkeeper.
The joy was short-lived, as SSA equalized just four minutes later.
“I don’t know if it’s the team getting ahead of itself or just maturity in realizing that you’re your most vulnerable after scoring a goal,” Schiavoni said. “We still have a lot of guys who are just young and naive. The more they play, the more they’ll learn that aspect of the game.”
The two goals only furthered the breathless nature of the game. The ball barely stopped rolling more than a couple of seconds for the final 15 minutes as both sides looked for the go-ahead goal.
Marlow made one last big save in the 80th, but it was Legion II who got the final chance. Melendez connected with another free-kick deep into stoppage time, but this time opted to head it down for a teammate. However, nobody was there to latch onto the second ball for what turned out to be the final action of the game.
The draw ended a run of two consecutive losses for Legion II — their only two losses of the season — and sees them remain in fourth place in USL League Two’s South Central Division.
Legion’s semi-pro team have a bye this weekend before playing the final four games of their 2025 season. They will be back in action at 7 p.m. June 25, hosting Tennessee SC.