Rowdies Draw Against Loudoun 2-2

After a raucous ending and a flurry of goals, Tampa Bay Rowdies equalize in stoppage time through Joey Skinner to split the points away at Loudoun United, with a final score of 2-2. 

The scoring opened with Blake Bodily getting tackled in the penalty box, and Manuel Arteaga calmly slotting home the penalty to give the Rowdies the lead in the 57th minute. 

Loudoun United would get their own penalty in the 91st minute, as Juan Carlos Azocar would fall over, taking down Riley Bidois in the process. Loudoun United’s Abdellatif Aboukoura would score his penalty, evening the score in the 91st minute. 

With the scoring just opening, and the fourth official adding an extra twelve minutes, the match would be far but over. 

Loudoun United would take the lead in the 96th minute, with Garrison Tubbs unmarked at the six yard box converting his header. 

The scoring would not be over, however, as Alex Mendez played a ball into substitute Joey Skinner, who’s left footed shot would beat the keeper near post, and would give the Rowdies something to take home in this game. 

Around The League:

Since the Rowdies played on Sunday afternoon, all the other important games had happened already. 

Rhode Island FC, who started the matchweek in 8th place, dropped points Friday night at El Paso Locomotive. Rhode Island defender Clay Holstead would score an own goal in the second half. The final was 2-2, and it was dropped points for Rhode Island. 

Indy Eleven played Western Conference league leaders FC Tusla at home, and convincingly won 2-1. Indy led for most of the game, scoring a 9th minute goal from Brian Schaefer, and doubling their lead in the 68th minute through former Rowdie Jack Blake. FC Tulsa would pull one back with a header from Boubacar Diallo in the 81st minute, but would be unable to find an equalizer. 

Finally, Detroit City FC hosted Eastern Conference leaders Louisville City FC at Keyworth Stadium on Saturday night. Louisville would grab the lead in the 7th minute by a header from USL veteran Sean Totsch. That would be the only goal of the game, and the final was 1-0 to the league leaders. 

With all teams playing 26 matches (except North Carolina with 25 played) the table leaves room for Rowdies optimism. Detroit City FC sit in 7th place with 32 points. Indy Eleven, who jumped into 8th place over Rhode Island FC have 32 points as well. Rhode Island FC sit in 9th place with 31 points. 

That brings us to the Rowdies, who sit in 10th place, with 27 points. Rowdies are 5 points away from both Detroit City and Indy Eleven. The Rowdies also have the benefit of having the head to head difference over Indy Eleven as well. 

Connor’s Corner:

The Good: Last year, Manuel Arteaga was a reliable striker, scoring goals at will for Tampa Bay. He scored 20 goals in 36 games, 18 of which were in league play, and two were in the 6-4 US Open Cup game against Birmingham Legion FC.

This year it seemed like he was in his head too much, and was struggling to find the net. I think it’s fair to say that has passed him, as he scored a beautiful penalty to give the Rowdies the lead. He has now scored in three games in a row, and was the 7th of his USL Championship campaign.

I would like to see him try to hit double digit goals for the end of the season, as we need to try to score as many as possible, as I am rapidly losing hope in our defense.

Before we let the negativity take control, I’d like to highlight RBLR’s Man of the Match, Alex Mendez. Since signing for Tampa Bay, Mendez has shown his quality. He had the assist to Joey Skinner in the 99th minute of the game, which secured a point for the Rowdies. Mendez completed 81% of his passes and has been reliable in the midfield since his debut against Colorado Springs. In his four games playing for Tampa Bay, he has assisted two goals, the Skinner goal against Loudoun United and the Arteaga goal vs Birmingham Legion FC.

Overall, Arteaga and Mendez are giving Rowdies fans something to be optimistic about. 

I also want to highlight Luis Alvarez. He played well in the short time he was in against Loudoun United setting up both of Woobens Pacius’ chances in added time, and I really think he should be given more playing time. Not to mention the beauty of a goal that he had against Birmingham Legion FC.

The Bad: With our optimism out of the way, it’s time to highlight what makes me lose sleep at night.

Conceding late in games has been an issue for the Rowdies. Sacramento, North Carolina, and now Loudoun are all games in recent memory in which we have conceded past the 90th minute.

We were losing against Sacramento, and then a Cicerone goal in the 91st minute put the nail in the coffin for a Rowdies defeat to former manager Neill Collins. It was his first visit to Al Lang Stadium since leaving for England in the summer of 2023.

While we didn’t concede late to Colorado Springs, we really should have. Bill Hamid made an amazing save on an unmarked runner at the back post. That would have been another goal conceded in the 90th minute.

In the game against North Carolina FC, the Rowdies were denied three points after Oalex Anderson found the net in the 96th minute after a Hamid mistake and Aaron Guillen being just a step too slow to cover the open goal. 

This takes us to our most recent match, against Loudoun United. Juan Carlos Azocar slipped and fell over in the box, taking out Riley Bidois. Loudoun convert their penalty. I am not too mad about the penalty. It is a situation of either you save them or you don’t from a goalkeeper’s perspective.

However, the second goal is brutal. In the 96th minute of a 12 minute added time, Garrison Tubbs is completely unmarked in the 6 yard box, forcing Hamid to come off his line in an attempt to clear. Tubbs scores and gives Loudoun the lead. I feel like it’s a brutal way to concede after defending decently in the game. 

Now finally, we need to talk about those Woobens misses.

I think Woobens has been the most important player this season, however, those misses are terrible. In the first attempt, he narrowly missed the crossbar high and to the right. He had the time to take multiple touches and the shot appeared rushed. The Alvarez pass found Woobens in open space. It is brutal, but he would get a chance to redeem himself later.

Woobens would find himself at the six yard box, with a Loudoun defender quickly closing in on him. He had two options: First, attempt a pass across goal to a Joey Skinner who was unmarked for an easy tap-in.

Or: he also had the option of shooting near post. The Loudoun keeper was creeping to his right (towards Joey Skinner), anticipating the cross, which left the near post open. Woobens appears to go for goal, aiming for the near post’s top corner. He catches the ball horribly, and sends the ball out of Segra Field.

While it would’ve been a tough pass, if it made it to Skinner, it would’ve been a goal. In a case where we need three points to have hope at the playoffs, we need to be converting those chances. 

Final Thoughts: Coming into the game, we all knew the benefit of three points. Detroit City FC and Rhode Island FC had dropped points, and a Rowdies win could have put them two points behind Rhode Island, and three points behind Detroit and Indy.

While I do not think the season is over, it is not looking good. The Rowdies have four games left. To the benefit of the team, three of these games are at home. 

This Saturday, we have Western Conference 12th place Monterey Bay FC at home. Next week, we travel to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to face Rhode Island FC which will surely decide whether we see Tampa Bay play in playoff soccer.

After Rhode Island FC, we play the last two games at Al Lang Stadium. The first is against a Hartford Athletic team that is running over every team in their way. The second is against Detroit City FC, who will also be fighting to have playoff soccer themselves. 

We must put this Loudoun game behind us. We need to take one game at a time, and this starts against Monterey Bay FC this Saturday.