FC Arizona Defeats Oakland SC 2-1

By FC Arizona

In their second home match of the 2023 NPSL season, FC Arizona defeated Oakland SC 2-1 on Saturday night.

FC Arizona were coming off another away win, defeating Lions United FC 3-1 in Glendale, CA.  Oakland SC were looking to bounce back from a loss on May 6 against El Farolito.

The match started with Oakland kicking off, and it did not take long for things to get interesting.  In the first 54 seconds of the match, FC Arizona’s Marco Afonso gathered a loose ball and passed it square to Kyle Benjamin who put it right in the back of the net.  FC Arizona would have the early 1-0 lead.  Oakland would attempt to bounce back instantly.  In the 7th minute, Oakland’s Robin Gutierrez would send a ball into the box but Arizona defended the ball well.

In the 29th minute, Oakland had their first great chance with a strike right at goal.  However, FC Arizona goalkeeper Donovan Parisian would make a save and then stop the rebounded shot.  The game would stay to Arizona’s advantage as they continued to attack and maintain possession.  Oakland would continue to defend well in addition to making some counterattacks, but the first half ended with FC Arizona up 1-0.

In the 47th minute during an FC Arizona attack, the ball was sent high into the air.  Benjamin would take a brilliant one-hit shot that was stopped with an amazing save by Oakland goalkeeper Kevin Esquivel. 

The second half was a back-to-back fight between Oakland and Arizona as both shared attacking efforts into each other’s halves.  FC Arizona would make a breakthrough when Afonso sent another great pass in to substitute Cesar Moreno who scored with an amazing one-time effort in the 77th minute.  This extended FC Arizona’s lead to 2-1.

Oakland would attempt a comeback with Jesus Martinez scoring a late goal.  However, their efforts would prove fruitless as they couldn’t find the elusive second goal, instead falling 2-1 to FC Arizona.

FC Arizona improves to 4-0, their best start since their 2018 season.  They look forward to another home game May 20th against California Odyssey SC.

Photo Credit: JJ Digos