SKC II Preseason Recap: Sporting KC II defeats Richland College 2-1 in second straight preseason win
The Federal Reserve-presented 2023 Sporting Kansas City II preseason continued with a 2-1 win in an afternoon friendly against Richland College at the Toyota Soccer Center in Frisco, TX. Similar to Saturday’s friendly, two goals at half-time, including an opening goal just before the final whistle, secured Sporting KC II victory.
Head coach Benny Feilhaber fielded a heavily manned starting XI from the Sporting KC Academy with five Academy trialists and three Academy products. Carlito Saylon earned the start in goal with Mikey Lenis, Jacob Bartlett, Matthew Fisher and Coby Jones in front of him. Cielo Tschantret occupied the six with Kai Auvray and Danny Flores, who split up on either side of him. The top three consisted of Ozzie Cisneros, Pau Vidal and goalscorer Amadou Traore.
The competition started with SKC II maintaining possession in Richland’s third area, but the visitors were unable to take any action towards goal. It was the hosts who first put themselves on the scoresheet when they converted an early penalty in the eighth minute.
The outside attack in SKC II seemed balanced with performances from Lenis and Jones on either flank of the attack. Richland was smart and kept Vidal and the other forwards off the net. Richland had the second narrow chance when a shot from across the box went barely high and whistled past Saylon’s right post.
In the 20th round, SKC II equalized thanks to Traore’s second goal in as many preseason games. The winger expertly brought down a brilliant substitution from Flores, gauged his man and stormed into the net. After working his way through defence, he pinned a shot around the keeper and into the near post to level the goal line.
Just two minutes later, Traore Richland gave a deja vu and executed a similar action until his shot was blocked in traffic. Auvray collected the loose ball but couldn’t get his shot on target. Sporting KC II’s attacking pressure continued as Lenis lashed a cross from the baseline at Vidal, which was deflected just wide of the target by the threatening striker.
The half-time whistle eased some stress for Richland after 20 minutes of sustained pressure from SKC II. A trio of substitutes came on for Sporting early in the second game, with Jahon Rad, Josh Coan and Andrew Draper coming on for Fisher, Auvray and Traore. The first draft completed its final 15 minutes on the pitch before seven substitutes came on in the 60th. Nati Clarke, Nassim Mekediche and Diedie Traore replaced the three remaining defenders. Enzo Mauriz and Ethan Bryant entered midfield and Sebastian Cruz came on with Bakary Bagayoko to play the last 30.
The second squad’s first dangerous move came in the 70th when Clarke’s cross connected with Bryant in the box. The midfielder was in a hurry for his shot and couldn’t find the frame. Draper found the frame from the left corner of the box a moment later, but the keeper was positioned well enough to save.
Five minutes later, SKC II put the ball in the net when Bagayoko delivered a pass to Cruz, who sent the ball into the empty net. The offside flag went up on the other side of the field and the goal was disallowed. Just 10 minutes later, SKC II would score the match winner. Again, Cruz was played into the penalty area, but this time he flicked the ball back to the penalty spot. A poor clearance from Richland was picked up by Coan, who slid the ball past the keeper.
The group retained the lead thanks to a defensive header from Mauriz and a blocked corner from Bryant. The final whistle came as SKC II perfected the win from behind to claim their second 2-1 win in a row of the 2023 preseason. The team will play another pre-season test match Thursday morning on the road trip against North Texas SC. After the trip, a pre-season game against UMKC remains at the Swope Soccer Village. Follow for updates during preseason and regular season @SportingKCII on Twitter.
SK C: Carlito Saylon; Mikey Lenis (Nati Clarke, 60th), Jacob Bartlett (Nassim Mekediche, 60th), Matthew Fisher (Jahon Rad, 46th), Coby Jones (Amadou Traore, 60th); Cielo Tschantret (Enzo Mauriz, 60th), Kai Auvray (Josh Coan, 46th), Danny Flores (Ethan Bryany, 60th); Ozzie Cisneros (Sebastian Cruz, 60th), Pau Vidal (Bakary Bagayoko, 60th), Amadou Traore (Andrew Draper, 45th).