On a chilly Sunday afternoon, the New York Red Bulls II defeated archrivals NYCFC II 3-2 at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
In the early minutes of the first half, the Baby Bulls had the better of the run of play.
In the third minute a yellow card was assessed to NYCFC II’s Max Murray.
In the seventh minute, Julian Hall took a shot from the left side of the field that was punched away by NYCFC II goalkeeper Maclean Learned. The rebound fell to Wiktor Bogacz, who slid and scored to give Red Bull an early 1-0 lead.
NYC tied the game when midfielder Maximo Carrizo sent a ground cross to the back post where Julien Lacher slid and shot the ball into the back of the net in the 12th minute.
In the 30th minute, Red Bulls midfielder Tanner Rosborough dribbled the ball down the right flank into the box where he made a cut back move around the defender and took a left footed strike but it was parried away by the goalkeeper
Right after the second half began in the 53rd minute, a NYCFC player was dribbling inside the box when he laid it off to a teammate. Reid took a hard right-footed shot that Red Bulls II goalkeeper Aidan Stokes rushed off his line to block with his face.
“Not everything’s going to go our way. We’re going to concede two goals like we did today but it’s how we react to those moments and taking a ball to the chest or face is only a small part of what I can offer to the team. Everyone including me is willing to put their body on the line and I train for those kinds of situations so that when those moments come I’m as ready as possible.” – Aidan Stokes
In the 56th minute, the visitors took the lead when NYCFC II midfielder Collin McCamy (NYCFC’s second round draft pick this year) unleashed a hard low strike into the bottom right-hand corner past a diving Aidan Stokes to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
In the 67th minute, the Baby Bulls leveled the match. The play involved a beautiful flick on by a Baby Bull to Julian Hall in his own half. Then Hall dribbled from midfield to the edge of the 18 where he played a ball into Rafael Mosquera. Mosquera made a move around a defender shifting the ball onto his right foot before unleashing a right-footed strike that beat the keeper to the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
In the 73rd minute, a Baby Bulls player was taken down right on the edge of NYCFC II’s 18. The referee showed the NYCFC offender a yellow card and awarded a free kick to Red Bull. Julian Hall took the kick sending it way high over the bar and out of play.
In the 80th minute, a second yellow was shown to NYCFC II’s Piero Elias and he was ejected from the game, putting NYCFC II down to 10 men.
After that, things got worse for the visitors. In the 86th minute, a Red Bulls II player was shoved to the ground in anticipation of a cross. A penalty was awarded to Red Bulls II, which was taken by Julian Hall. Hall decisively scored his 11th career MLS NEXT Pro goal by pounding the ball into the upper left-hand corner of the net to give the Baby Bulls the lead.
Five minutes of stoppage time were awarded and NYCFC II’s Seymour Reid almost took advantage but his left-footed shot went just past the right goal post and out of play.
After going down 2-1 early in the second half, the Baby Bulls completed a two-goal comeback to win all three points from the MLS NEXT Pro version of the Hudson River Derby. Hall led the Baby Bulls with two goal contributions.
After the game, Red Bulls II Head Coach Ibrahim Sekagya talked about this being the 10th anniversary of Red Bulls II playing the club’s first game at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. We talked about this in the week, we were telling the players this is the chance we get to come back and play in the stadium. Also it was an opportunity for our new guys to feel what it’s like to play at Sports Illustrated.”
Coach Sekagya talked about what changed after his team conceded the second goal to NYCFC II.
“We talked about it in the first half about how the energy was not there. The guys, they came back, we conceded the second goal. We knew that the guys like (Rafael) Mosquera has been doing well. When he came in, you can see the energy, the guys who subbed on, we saw the change. You can see the guys when the subs came in. It was a good energy from (Rafael) Mosquera, he has been doing well. It was good to see him score the goal.”
The Baby Bulls manager then discussed the emotions behind a derby match and how his team controlled them.
“Always the derby is going to have some emotion, but we talked about how you have to control it. We have to control it, it’s another game but it was so important because we are playing in the stadium. To come here and to play the Derby was fantastic, the guys enjoyed it, but it was good to have a win.”
For the Baby Bulls, goalkeeper Aidan Stokes made three saves on the day including two big ones with the game on the line and Coach Sekagya reflected on his goalkeeper’s performance.
“When you look at the second half, it was everyone into it and then you can talk about Stokes has a good game. I think Stokes has shown how he’s been growing up. He was fantastic. To have him, this is exactly when the defenders they have a goalkeeper behind who can make big saves, was good.”
Stokes discussed the fighting spirit that his teammates showed to come back after going down in the 59th minute.
“Really good! This is one of those moments that you can’t really put into words. Getting the opportunity to play in Sports Illustrated Stadium against the team we played. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I think the team showed a big fight, because we went down twice in the second half, it was a great job for the backline to fight back. At the end of the day, we wanted it more than them within the big moments.”
The Red Bulls II next game is at home at MSU Soccer Park on Sunday April 6 at 5 p.m. against Chicago Fire SC II.
