Toledo Villa FC Falls to FC Indiana in Home Opener

By Justin Guy/Toledo Villa FC

Toledo Villa FC hosted FC Indiana for their 2019 home opener on Saturday, May 25th at Lyden Field.  Both teams dropped their first contest of the season via a shutout.  And now they were looking to grab their first points in this match and break into the scoring stat line as well.  

Villa goalkeeper Eric Cotton was tested early in the game coming up with a diving save within two minutes of kick-off.  After the first shot against, Villa maintained possession of the ball in the attacking half of the field for the majority of the first 13 minutes, winning three corner kicks in that time but unable to put any opportunities on frame.  With Villa pushing up to get a shot on goal, FC Indiana was able to create a turnover and push the ball through on a fast break in the 14th minute to find an opening for Nemanja Gvozdic, who was able to open the scoring for the visitors.

The best opportunity of the first half for TVFC to score came in the 24th minute when Gui Albuquerque switched fields to Caleb Gibbons, who controlled the ball with his head and played the ball back across the goal to Kyle Morton.  Then Morton was able to get a shot off but was blocked by an FC Indiana defender inside the six-yard box and cleared away from danger.

FC Indiana would double their lead in the 31st minute on yet another counterattack from the left side of the pitch to make it 2-0.  Joel Figueroa would get a 2v1 opportunity versus TVFC defender Aerin West, who was able to get to Figueroa just a bit too late as he put the low shot past Cotton of TVFC.  It would remain 2-0 for the remainder of the first half.

With a two-goal lead, FC Indiana was very content with continuing to sit behind the ball in the second half and only take chances going forward when they could get the fast break opportunities like they were able to create in the first half.  The first goal scoring opportunity for either team came in the 50th minute when Gibbons was able to create a turnover in the attacking half.  Gibbons found Cian McDonald wide right and was able to get a touch and a low-driven ball across the middle to Albuquerque, who was able to get a shot off but was denied by the FC Indiana keeper.

FC Indiana’s third and fourth goals of the game were not unlike the first two, a turnover in the midfield of TVFC led to a fast break opportunity.  Figueroa ran onto a through ball and took it wide of Cotton’s outstretched arms before netting his second goal and FC Indiana’s third goal of the game in the 62nd minute.  FC Indiana would get their fourth goal of the game when a 3v1 opportunity arose in the 89th minute and Ricardo Ruiz found himself alone in front of goal and easily put the game away with the final ending at 4-0.

Toledo Villa FC move to 0-2 on the season, TVFC will travel to Wellington School in Columbus to play FC Columbus on Friday, May 31st at 7:00 pm.

Photo Credit: Jessica Ganues