Match Recap: Huntsville City FC suffer total collapse, lose 3-2 to Orlando City B

Image Credit: Orlando City B

First off, apologies for the delay, busy weekend for myself, but we’re here. On Friday night, Huntsville City FC welcomed Orlando City B into Joe Davis Stadium, and thought they’d done enough to send their visitors home sour. However, the Young Lions of Orlando had other ideas.

The scoring was opened by Orlando’s Hayden Sargis in the 48th minute before an almost instantaneous reply by Christian Koffi in the 50th. Then, Gunnar Studenhofft headed home a corner for the hosts to give them the lead in the 70th minute, however it would be an 84th minute Jhon Solis goal and a 92nd minute Dyson Clapier goal that would seal all three points for the Young Lions.

Let’s take a look.

Lineup

Image Credit: Huntsville City FC

Erik Lauta regained his place in goal with Xavier Valdez off to international duty. Ahead of him sat a back four of Tyshawn Rose, Kevin Carmichael, Zach Barrett and Blake Bowen, stop me if you’ve read that one before.

In midfield a trio of Pep Casas, Phillip Mayaka and Moises Véliz supported a front three of Christian Koffi, Isaiah Jones, and Gio Miglietti. Off the bench, head coach Chris O’Neal called on Ethan O’Brien, Bryce Boneau (debut), Alan Carleton, Damien Barker John, and Gunnar Studenhofft.

The Numbers

Huntsville City FC

Shots: 30

Shots on goal: 9

Possession: 67%

Corners: 12

Yellow Cards: 1 (Phillip Mayaka)

Orlando City B

Shots: 6

Shots on goal: 6

Possession: 33%

Corners: 2

Yellow Cards: 2 (Riyan Tori, Dylan Clapier)

Analysis

Bad, bad loss for Huntsville in this one. Look at that stat table. THIRTY shots, SIXTY-SEVEN percent of the ball. TWELVE corners. Probably 8 times out of 10 Huntsville holds on to win this one. But, when you allow all six of your opponent’s shots to go on target, you open yourself up to danger.

Huntsville has lost three games inside 90 minutes this season, all of which to teams that they pretty thoroughly dominated on the stat sheet. In fact, Orlando operated in similar transition moments to the way Chattanooga has done to beat Huntsville twice this season. Perhaps there’s something to this team that others are starting to see in the film room.

This loss drops Huntsville to 6th in the East, though with the vast differences in games played, it’s hard to tell where they really should be. On points per game they sit fourth, but again, vast differences in games played. Hard to get a read on.

Next up for the Rocket Men is a road trip to Kennesaw to take on Atlanta United 2 on Wednesday, we’ll have that preview for you tomorrow morning! See you then!