TAMPA, Florida, CMC – St Vincent & the Grenadines striker Oalex Anderson was part of a second-half goal blitz. North Carolina FC mauled Miami FC 4-0 in the United Soccer League Championship on Saturday in the United States.
The 28-year-old scored his second goal of the campaign, and North Carolina used a flurry of second-half strikes to grab their first win on the road this season at the FIU Soccer Stadium in the city of Miami in the state of Florida.
Evan Conway, Mikey Moldanado, and Rodrigo Da Costa added to the rout and pushed NCFC to a 3-5-4 record this term for 14 points, and they rose to seventh in the 12-team Eastern Conference standings.
“I’m very happy for the group to put together a complete performance on the road for the first time this season,” NCFC head coach John Bradford said.
“I felt we dominated both sides of the ball in the first half, and credit to the guys for continuing to push to ensure we got the three points in the second half. A shut-out and multiple goals is not easy to do away from home in this league, and we need to continue to build on these moments going forward.”
NCFC had an excellent look at opening the scoring in the first half of the stoppage when Anderson played Conway behind in the box. Still, the Miami goalkeeper, Felipe Rodriguez, got off his line to make a massive one-on-one stop to keep the match scoreless at half-time.
But NCFC did not have to wait long to take the lead when Conway headed home a beautiful cross from Louis Perez five minutes into the second half.
Anderson followed up when Ezra Armstrong beat his defender down the left side and then sent a ball to the back post for “Bounty,” as Anderson is known, to hammer home.
Mikey Maldonado added the exclamation mark in the 76th minute with an Olympic goal from the left corner into the far side netting.
Da Costa sent a roller toward goal in the 89th minute, and Garrett McLaughlin’s run distracted the Miami keeper enough to allow the ball to squeak through for a bonus.
On Friday, a second-half strike from Jamaican forward Deshane Beckford sealed a 2-1 win for Hartford Athletic against Monterey Bay.
After trailing 1-0 at half-time, two unanswered goals from Michee Ngalina and Beckford propelled Hartford to a comeback victory on home soil at Trinity Health Stadium in the city of Hartford in the state of Connecticut.
Beckford scored in the 50th minute when Thomas Vancaeyezeele laid off a ball into space for him to strike a rasping shot into the back of the net.
Hartford moved to a record of 4-6-0, and they are 10th in the Eastern Conference table on 12 points.
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