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First Goal for FCC ‘Great Feeling’ for Lasso

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 07/19/18, 10:49AM EDT

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Center back played key role in both goals, shutout for hosts against Independence

CINCINNATI – A season ago, Forrest Lasso was one of the most reliable set piece targets in the USL for the Charleston Battery, finishing the season with four headed goals, tied for third in the league.

And while that wasn’t the principle reason for the 6-foot-5 center back being recruited by FC Cincinnati this offseason, the fact that he hadn’t found the net going into Wednesday night’s game against the Charlotte Independence on a side that had some excellent set-piece takers was still somewhat surprising.

In playing a key role in both of FCC’s two early goals that paved the way to a 2-0 victory before a crowd of 25,251 fans at Nippert Stadium in the USL Game of the Week, however, Lasso certainly seemed happy to have finally bagged his first for his new club in a shutout victory.

“Scoring is a great feeling,” said Lasso. “Obviously, as a defender it’s a little rare. I’d rather get a clean sheet every day of the week than score. So, I guess I got a little selfish tonight.”

Lasso almost gave the hosts the lead in the seventh minute on Wednesday night as his flicked near-post header from a corner on the right came back off the crossbar, allowing center back partner Dekel Keinan to tap home the rebound as he reacted quickest to the chance. In the 20th minute, however, Lasso powered home his back-post finish from Kenney Walker’s corner kick from the left into the right side of the net to give Cincinnati a comfortable early lead.

“I’m ecstatic for both of them because they both take a lot of pride in scoring goals in set pieces,” said FCC Head Coach Alan Koch. “Forrest scored a lot last year and Dekel has scored a lot in his career, so I know both of them were getting frustrated … We worked more on them in the last two weeks than we did in the previous part of the season, so it was fantastic to see the guys get rewarded with two set-piece goals.”


FC Cincinnati defender Forrest Lasso celebrates his 20th-minute goal against the Charlotte Independence, his first for the club. | Photo courtesy Erik Schelkun / FC Cincinnati

As important as finding the net for Lasso and Keinan was keeping the club’s solid run of recent defensive form going. Cincinnati has now recorded shutouts in four consecutive contests and allowed a Charlotte attack that had put up four goals in the first meeting between the clubs this season only two shots on goal on the night as Lasso recorded one of five FCC blocks on the night.

Still, with Lasso and Keinan’s proficiency in the air, both players are hoping Wednesday night’s goals will lead to more down the line as Cincinnati continues its drive toward not only top spot in the Eastern Conference but also the USL Regular Season Championship.

“Coach has been stressing a lot recently that we have the size, the physicality and the skill to be able to convert on set pieces,” said Lasso. “It’s kind of like the floodgates type of deal hopefully, we’ve been waiting and we’ve been right there, hopefully it’ll keep coming in.”

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