Dakota Fusion Defeats Minneapolis City SC 3-2
Dakota Fusion continued its undefeated start in the NPSL North Division with a come from behind 3-2 victory on the road versus a strong MPLS City team in front of a raucous crowd of over 200 City supporters. Dakota Fusion started the game slowly and could only manage possession of the ball in their own defensive third of the field in the first 20 minutes of the game. MPLS City put a lot of pressure on the Fusion during those 20 minutes, but could not score from the run of the play or from the handful of corners and free kicks that they were able to generate.
The Fusion opened the scoring against the run of play when outside back Adrian Baclawski (Kolno, Poland) scored his second goal of the season on a left-footed blast from the top of the box that found its way into the far corner of the net.
The Fusion’s lead did not last long when MPLS City picked off an errant Fusion backpass three minutes later with William Kidd scoring on an equally impressive strike from the corner of the box that left Fusion goalkeeper Steve Harris only to watch the ball fly into the far post. MPLS City extended their lead less than ten minutes later when Martin Browne curled in a beautiful free kick past Harris from 20 yards out in the 41st minute.
Dakota Fusion opened up the second half on the front foot with the halftime introduction of forward Isaac Kehson (Accra, Ghana). Kehson responded by combining with Akeem Smith in front of the MLPS City box in the 58th minute with Kehson finally lifting a ball past the MLPS goalkeeper from 18 yards out to tie the score at 2-2.
The Fusion continued to make changes to keep the pressure on MLPS City. Brothers, Kyle and Damien Robbins, fresh off graduating from high school earlier in the day, made their debut for the Fusion early in the second half, and immediately helped to settle their team down.
Each team began searching for the game-winner, and the game opened up dramatically. Each team was able to create chances and be dangerous, but it was a goal in the 70th minute by Dakota Fusion’s Hartrick Tarr (Grand Gedeh, Liberia) that would give the Fusion everything it needed to earn an important result on the road. MLPS City applied constant pressure in the final 20 minutes as the Fusion just sat in and tried to protect its one-goal advantage.
City created a few quality chances, but the Fusion defended well collectively with goalkeeper Steve Harris making a couple key stops and catches in traffic to earn his third win of the season.
