PDL Piranhas fall to Real Maryland 3-0

Virginia Beach, Virginia – In perfect conditions and slightly humid temperatures the Virginia Beach Piranhas faced Real Maryland Saturday night at the Sportsplex in their second game of the 2011 PDL campaign. The Piranhas were looking to build on their successful season start and battled hard but couldn’t handle Maryland’s offense and fell with a final score of 3-0.
The Piranhas came out strong and controlled possession of the ball in the midfield, led by playmaker Thiago Silva. However Coach Rizzo’s team failed to create compelling scoring opportunities and it was Maryland’s Ryan Garcia who had the first attempt on goal twenty minutes into the game. His shot from the edge of the box settled dangerously, but went over the crossbar.
Towards the end of the first half, the game became highly competitive and physical. A total of thirty three fouls were called during the match. Although action rarely took place in the offensive thirds, the Piranhas developed a slight advantage after back-to-back shots by Jordan LeBlanc and Yannick Smith went wide after thirty minutes. Then, almost without warning, Real Maryland took the lead in the 31st minute. Draymond Washington played a through ball to forward Ndah Aboubacarim, who slipped the ball past Piranhas keeper Michael Roura in the net.
The Piranhas (1-1-0) started the second half eager to level the game but left Real too much space in defense. Maryland (1-0-0) took advantage twelve minutes into the second half when Sean Coleman took an open shot from twenty-five yards out and left Roura no chance as the ball went precisely in the bottom left corner. Three minutes later Coleman could have marked his second goal but his shot from the six yard box hit the post.
Coach Rizzo tried to give his team an edge as he subbed in fresh offensive personnel and switched to a system with three forwards. The Piranhas battled hard but couldn’t rebound and even had to give up another goal as their offensive efforts opened up space for Maryland’s counter-attacks. In the 81st minute Maryland’s Kaoru Forbes played a long ball out of his own half to Ryan Garcia, who went into a one-on-one with Roura and beat the Piranhas keeper to score the last goal of the game.
Piranha’s midfielder Thiago Silva Piranhas was shown the red card for an open cleat tackle in the 91st minute and the game was over. Real Maryland outshot the Piranhas 16-9.
“A lot went wrong today,” said Rizzo, analyzing his team’s performance. “Maryland is a very talented and physically strong team. We couldn’t organize our own plays today and lacked attention in defense, but our dedication was good and we will recover come next week.”
The Piranhas will be on the road next Saturday, playing against West Virginia Chaos at Schoenbaum Stadium in Charleston.
For more information on the 2011 Virginia Beach Piranhas, including tickets, sponsorships, internships or to volunteer, please visit http://www.vbpiranhas.com/ or call 757-572-1592