KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The start was certainly not to the Swope Park Rangers’ liking, but they made up for it with back-to-back goals to rally for a 2-1 victory against the LA Galaxy II on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Victory Field at Swope Soccer Village. The match was delayed because of inclement weather. After Los Dos’ Bradford Jamieson IV gave his side a lead in the opening two minutes, Swope captain Christian Duke and Mark Anthony Gonzalez followed with first-half scores to earn the victory. Swope improves to 9-9-6 (33 points) overall and 7-3-1 at home. LA falls to 9-6-9 (36 points) overall and 3-4-5 on the road. This was the one and only regular-season meeting between the third-year Galaxy II and expansion Swope.

Scoring:
2’ – LA – Bradford Jamieson IV (Jose Villarreal)
16’ – SPR – Christian Duke (Ayrton)
26’ – SPR – Mark Anthony Gonzalez (Tommy Meyer)

Three Things That Mattered:

• 1. Swope responded well to an early setback, leaning on the club’s first signing and team captain Christian Duke to get things started. Ayrton maneuvered well in the left corner to create some space from his defender and crossed in to find Duke for the header, grabbing his first goal of the season in the 16th minute. Then in the 26th minute, Tommy Meyer crossed in from the right side with a lofting ball that found Mark Anthony Gonzalez. LA’s marking on that sequence was a significant breakdown as Gonzalez literally had to jog in for his run toward the far left post, not even needing to leave his feet to redirect Meyer’s pass into the back of the net. Gonzalez leads Swope with eight goals this season.

• 2. LA had an impressive start with an aggressive charge and a goal in the second minute. On the counterattack, Jose Villarreal played the ball toward the left corner as Bradford Jamieson IV did a good job of rushing to catch up to the pass. Once he collected, Jamieson cut to his right and fired into the far right of the frame for a 1-0 lead. Jamieson has featured sporadically for Los Dos this season as this was his first tally of the 2016 USL campaign. Villarreal has four assists on the year.

• 3. The Rangers mustered their first multi-goal game in about a month. As is usually the case for most teams, a multi-goal performance has treated Swope well. It’s a little more significant for the Rangers, though, as all eight victories this season have included two or more goals as they moved to 8-1-0 on such occasions.

USLSoccer.com Man of the Match:
Christian Duke, Swope Park Rangers - Duke's game-tying header helped Swope turn the tide on a poor start against LA.

Upcoming Games:
Swope Park Rangers vs. San Antonio FC – Aug. 31, 8:30 p.m. ET, Children’s Mercy Victory Field at Swope Soccer Village
LA Galaxy II at Arizona United SC – Aug. 31, 10:30 p.m. ET, Peoria Sports Complex