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Eastern Conf. Notebook – Nashville Getting Past Learning Curve

By USLSoccer.com Staff, 03/19/18, 11:00AM EDT

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NCFC encouraged despite defeat; Bethlehem looks to build on strong start

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nashville SC finally ended a long wait for regular-season professional soccer on Saturday, and started in the hardest possible way, against the defending USL Cup champions, Louisville City FC. But despite falling to a 2-0 loss at Slugger Field there were lessons to be learned for the expansion side, that will be taken into its first home match next weekend as it hosts Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at Nissan Stadium.

“Today will be a massive learning curve for us. We will for sure look forward to getting back home next week, in front of good crowd, in an environment that we will feel comfortable to win,” said Nashville Head Coach Gary Smith. “It certainly won’t stop me thinking as I leave here today that we have fallen short on what we should have achieved”

From the pitch Nashville midfielder Lebo Moloto thought things went well, and that the expansion side was already capable of matching up with the champions, especially in the first half.

“It was a good game. I thought we played good in the first half. We created a couple of chances and had a couple of shots on target,” said Moloto. “They didn’t look like they were any better than us. In the second half, we kind of let the foot off the gas a little bit, and they scored two goals.”

That sentiment was largely matched in the Louisville locker room with a glowing review from opposing Head Coach James O’Connor endorsing Nashville’s season.

“When you look at Nashville, I think they’re going to go on and have a very strong year. When you look at the game and the first half, it was a tactical battle at times,” said O’Connor. “For us to be able to go and get a win like that, it’s very encouraging.”

NEWCOMERS NCFC TAKE ENCOURAGEMENT: Despite falling to a disappointing loss in the first USL game in club history, North Carolina FC left Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday in a somewhat upbeat mood. There were a lot of positives for NCFC to take out of the match despite a difficult 3-1 loss to a Tampa Bay Rowdies side that is sure to challenge for supremacy in the USL's Eastern Conference.

“Overall, I was pleased with a lot of stuff we produced today. Obviously disappointed with the result and how that worked out, but I thought, you know, particularly for the start of the game, the first 20-25 minutes, I thought we were very good,” said NCFC Head Coach Colin Clarke. “I thought we could have scored two or three goals. And those moments, those big moments, I think a few of them went against us. From what I hear, the penalty wasn’t inside the box. We had chances to equalize, so some big moments we didn’t do well in or went against us, and that’s the game.”

The fatal flaw, for Clarke was not the lack of possession, North Carolina led that statistic with 55.6 percent, or creating chances, NCFC outshot the Rowdies 14-11, it was just the lack of clinical finishing, and it cost his team dearly.

“You don’t worry about the statistics. The quality of the opportunities as well, we had. And they had some, too. It was a pretty open game in parts. That’s the game,” said Clarke. “It’s not all about possession and creating chances but taking them. And we didn’t do a good enough job of taking our opportunities when they came to us.”

Despite that disappointment it was only week one, and being at the wrong end of the table in the first week of the season doesn’t matter greatly in the bigger picture. That point was emphasized by captain Austin da Luz, who wasn’t too upset about dropping three points.

“It’s coming together. We said coming in today, that we don’t need to be where we want to end up, today; We want to be where we’re going to end up in October,” said da Luz. “I think you could see that a little bit today, it’s still coming together, the locker room is strong and like I said, we’re going to learn from the loss and move on.”

STEEL FC OFF TO FLYING START: While you can’t win the regular season title in the first week of the season, there's nothing like the confidence that comes from getting a strong win under your belt. Bethlehem Steel FC managed that on Sunday, with one of the most impressive wins of the opening week of action, defeating the Richmond Kickers 4-1 at Goodman Stadium.

It was a comprehensive performance from Steel FC, who controlled the match and simply put the Kickers to the sword as it became one of only two teams to score four goals in the opening weekend's action.

“We said we wanted to make it miserable for teams to come and play here and I think we did that today so I’m happy with that,” said Steel FC Head Coach Brendan Burke. “We laid down a marker and now we need to recognize and respect that standard that we set and make sure that we meet it each time we’re at home.”

Burke isn't getting ahead of himself, there’s still much more soccer to be played, and in the next two weeks have strong tests with a visit to the Tampa Bay Rowdies this Saturday before the club returns home to host Nashville SC on March 31.

“[I] have to walk away happy that this is a really good building block that we laid down today but we understand that we are going to see extremely stiff competition over the next three to five week with Tampa and Nashville and others coming through town,” said Burke.

After making the USL Cup Playoffs for the first time in 2017, Steel FC has lofty goals, aiming to go even further this season. With Brandon Allen striking twice on his debut for the side, and other strong displays by the likes of James Chambers and Matt Real, the opening win was a strong signpost.

“One of our goals is to win the Eastern Conference and an unset goal is to be the best team in the northeast. I think today was a good statement,” said Steel FC midfielder Mike Catalano. “Richmond is sort of like a derby game being somewhat close to us and I think we can keep that mentality going forward against other East teams and it can be good for us.”

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