Atlanta United 2 lost 2-0 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Wednesday night to Group H leaders Tampa Bay Rowdies. Ben Lundgaard made five saves for ATL UTD 2, one shy of his season-high.
Atlanta took control from the start with Coleman Gannon getting the first good opportunity in the 18th minute. Amadou Macky Diop turned his defender and dribbled towards the box. He found an open Gannon with a square ball, but the Academy player’s left-footed strike was blocked in the box.
Against the run of play, the visitors opened the scoring in the 34th minute. Forrest Lasso connected on a header from seven yards out following a corner kick from Lewis Hilton for the 1-0 lead. Lasso nearly doubled the lead in the 39th minute, but Lundgaard made a great diving stop to his left to keep Atlanta’s deficit at 1-0 heading into halftime.
The second half began much like the first with ATL UTD 2 on the front foot. Phillip Goodrum and Macky Diop had two long-range efforts saved by Rowdies’ goalie Evan Louro in the opening minutes of the half. In the 71st minute, Tampa’s Malik Johnson was in on goal, but Lundgaard denied him with a point-blank save, then stopped the rebound to keep Atlanta in the match.
The Rowdies put the contest out of reach in the 81st minute when Juan Tejada finished off a counter with a curling right-footed shot into the far corner from just outside the box.
ATL UTD 2 (1-5-2, 5 points) returns to action Saturday, Aug. 15 when it travels to Charleston to take on the Battery at Patriot’s Point Soccer Complex (8:00 p.m., ESPN+).
MATCH INFO
Atlanta 0, Tampa Bay 2
Fifth Third Bank Stadium
Kennesaw, Georgia
STATS
Shots: 10-7 Tampa Bay
Shots on Target: 7-4 Tampa Bay
Corner kicks: 3-3
Fouls committed: 14-11 Atlanta
Offside: 1-0 Atlanta
Possession: 57-43 Atlanta
Passing Accuracy: 87-82 Atlanta
SCORING SUMMARY
TBR – Lasso 34’ (Hilton)
TBR – Tejada 81’ (Ekra)
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
ATL – Phillip Goodrum (yellow) 22’
ATL – Amadou Macky Diop (yellow) 90+6’
ATL UTD 2 STARTING LINEUP
Ben Lundgaard; Caleb Wiley, Modou Jadama ©, Patrick Nielsen (Amir Bashti 77’), Jack Gurr; William Reilly, Abdoulaye Diop, Baboucarr Njie (David Mejia 82’), Coleman Gannon (Lamin Jawneh 82’); Phillip Goodrum (Jackson Conway 61’), Amadou Macky Diop.
Substitutes not used: Vicente Reyes, Ajani Fortune, Daniel Steedman.
TAMPA BAY ROWDIES STARTING LINEUP
Evan Louro; Forrest Lasso, Jordan Scarlett, Aaron Guillen; Lewis Hilton (Kevin Mendoza 90’), Zach Steinberger (Malik Johnson 46’), Dominic Oduro, Jordan Doherty, Sabastian Dalgaard; Kyle Murphy(Juan Tejada 46’), Sebastian Guenzatti © (Yann Ekra 65’).
Substitutes not used: Macklin Robinson, Adam Najem, Lucky Mkosana.
OFFICIALS
Kyle Johnston (referee), Brian Marshall (assistant), Zachary McWhorter (assistant), Amin Hadzic (fourth)
TEAM NOTES
- Ben Lundgaard made five saves tonight, bringing his season total to a league-leading 27
- Abdoulaye Diop led the team with a passing accuracy of 94.9% on 59 total passes
- Will Reilly had the most tackles on the team with three
