Following a weekend in which the Connecticut Football Club Azul outscored their opponents 10-0, the Azul got a taste of their own medicine as GPS Portland Phoenix defeated them 2-0 tonight.
The loss marks the end of the Azul's two-game win streak, and is the teams first loss since their first game of the season when they lost to the Boston Victory on May 5, 2-1 at home.
Portland got on the board early, which pulled the crowd out of the game until the waning minutes. Chris Banks found Keegan Ziata who beat Azul goalkeeper Matt Sangeloty for the 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the game. The goal was Ziata's first of the year.
On a rainy field that was on a rare grass surface rather than turf, CFC played sloppy through the first half and continued the poor play into the second half. The team also lacked any offensive poise as Markus Naglestad, who tallied six points last weekend, sat with a leg injury.
Both teams stuck with their lineups starting the second half with a 1-0 GPS lead. However Azul head coach David Kelly made some subs late in the second half looking for an offensive spark bringing in Justin Brewer and Sam Groves.
Unfortunately for the Azul, neither player could find the back of the net and GPS capitalized on a counter-attack in the 89th minute
The Azul remain in second in the Northeast division with eight points, however GPS Portland moved into a tie with the Worcester Hydra in third with seven points. Portland however has only played three games to the Azul's six.
CFC will take on the Worcester Hydra next Saturday, June 9th at 7:30 p.m. at Willowbrook Park in New Britain.
Both teams fired off 10 shots in the game but Will Dieterich made eight saves on 10 shots faced to earn his first shutout of the season.
