skip navigation

Fury FC, Red Bulls II End Scoreless

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 05/02/18, 1:56PM EDT

Share

Schools Day crowd of 8,084 sees Crepeau produce seven-save shutout for hosts


Photo courtesy Steve Kingsman / Freestyle Photography / Ottawa Fury FC

OTTAWA – Ottawa Fury FC goalkeeper produced a seven-save shutout as the hosts played to a 0-0 draw with the New York Red Bulls II before a crowd of 8,084 fans on Wednesday morning for Fury FC’s annual Schools Day game at TD Place. New York threatened twice in the opening 10 minutes as Fury FC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau made strong saves to keep out Derrick Etienne Jr. and Vincent Bezecourt. The visitors carried more of the game, and Kevin Politz forced a diving save by Crepeau in the 26th minute as his free header from a free kick was targeted toward the bottom-left corner. Ottawa’s best sequence in the opening half came from Adonijah Reid, who got onto a through-ball by Kevin Oliveira but was driven wide by Red Bulls II goalkeeper Ryan Meara to make the angle too narrow to finish. Oliveira forced a diving save by Meara with a good strike from 20 yards toward the right corner in the 62nd minute for the hosts, but Ottawa was reduced to 10 men four minutes later when Chris Manella was sent off after an altercation with New York’s Andrew Tinari. A player up, the Red Bulls II pushed to take the lead as Ben Mines and Tinari both forced good saves from Crepeau from outside the penalty area, while Ottawa’s Cristian Portilla had a shot from 30 yards that was comfortably saved by Meara with six minutes to go. But despite a pair of late Fury FC corner kicks and a good low shot by Tinari that was claimed by Crepeau, the game ended scoreless.

Scoring:
None

Three Things That Matter:

  • 1. The Red Bulls II produced enough chances, but for a second consecutive game were unable to find a breakthrough as the club’s road winless streak continued in a game the visitors will likely feel they should have come away from with maximum points. New York controlled most of the game and produced the better chances throughout but ended up with nothing to show from seven shots on goal and 16 shots overall.

  • 2. Even when at full strength, Fury FC continued to have difficulty in creating attacking chances as the hosts were unable to move the ball quickly enough to break down the Red Bulls II’s pressure in midfield that saw the visitors win possession regularly in Ottawa’s half. In a strange way chances began to open up more for Fury FC after the side was reduced to 10 men as New York’s commitment to push players forward opened up more space for Adonijah Reid and Carl Haworth, but Ottawa still doesn’t have the sharpness it needs on the ball to be consistently threatening.

  • 3. Ottawa was under pressure defensively for good spells of the game, but goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau’s seven-save shutout allowed the side to come away with its second point of the season. Crepeau had to scramble to turn aside a clever back-heeled finish by Derrick Etienne Jr. early in the game, but was alert for the remainder of the contest to produce good saves on Kevin Politz and long-range efforts by Ben Mines and Andrew Tinari from similar positions to the top-right of the penalty area to earn a shutout.

USLSoccer.com Man of the Match

Maxime Crepeau, Ottawa Fury FC – Crepeau kept Fury FC on level terms with a seven-save shutout to allow the hosts to withstand the Red Bulls II’s pressure over the contest.

Upcoming Games:

Ottawa Fury FC at Penn FC – May 7, 6:30 p.m. ET, FNB Field

New York Red Bulls II vs. Nashville SC – May 6, 1 p.m. ET, Red Bull Arena

Follow the USL Championship

Most Recent News

Most Read News

Latest Videos