Bantams Defeat King's Warriors to Move into First Place of South Atlantic Division
Two undefeated teams from the South Atlantic division of the PDL on Saturday night as the SC United Bantams took on the South WV Kings Warriors. Both teams are in the second year of their franchise and took perfect records into the match which would leave the winner on top of the division standings.
The match was hard fought from both sides and had many shifts in momentum with the Bantams coming out with a 3-1 victory. The Bantams move to 3-0-0 and move atop the standings while the King’s Warriors move to 1-1-0.
The Bantams started the scoring in the 31st minute when Ben Montry picked up a ball in the attacking zone and took a couple touches and hit a well struck finish into back corner of the net to put the Bantams up 1-0.
The score stayed that way through half time and midway through the second. During that stretch, the Kings Warriors pressed the attack on many occasions and missed on several solid opportunities to even the match. With the Warriors pressing late in the match, the Bantams converted a corner kick in the 80th minute as Nestor Jaramillo whipped in a well placed corner that found the head of Joe Lantrato and the score moved to 2-0.
The match was far from over as the King’s Warriors wasted no time and scored one minute later on a rocket strike by Deybi Mejia Acevado into the upper corner of the net to move the score to 2-1.
That led to a fierce final ten minutes as the King’s Warriors threw many players to the attack to try to even the score. The Bantams got a counter attack and Jack Reid earned a penalty kick and converted it in the 88th minute to advance the score to 3-1 and that is where the match would finish.
SC United Coach Gary Winchester summed up the match this way. “Heart. This match was about heart. Two great teams played very well and our boys played with a lot of heart to get this victory. We were a bit short handed tonight but we hung together. We also played tonight with a heavy heart as we remember the loss of our U17 youth club player Corey Stringfellow who lost his life tragically back in SC on Friday. We wore black armbands with his name on them tonight and we dedicate this victory to him and to his family.”
The SC United Bantams return home on Saturday June 1st to play Virginia Beach back at Stone Stadium in Columbia. The Kings Warriors play state rival WV Chaos on May 28th in Charleston, WV.
