United Pour It On In Second Half, Thump Rangers
5.15.11
READING, Pa. (May 15, 2011) – Mere minutes after the game ended, the floodgates opened from the skies and drenched Don Thomas Stadium with a downpour of rain. The United did the same about half an hour before the rain arrived, opening their own floodgates and scoring three second half goals en route to a 4-0 victory over the visiting New Jersey Rangers. Leading the way for the United was Penn State transfer Hasani Sinclair, who assisted on all but one of Reading’s four goals on the evening.
Reading jumped on the Rangers early, earning a free kick deep in Ranger territory in the 15th minute. Center back David Rodriguez put home a Sinclair feed off the set piece, putting the United up 1-0 early.
“While we only scored one goal in the first half, we did a lot of things that were encouraging. I knew that the goals would come in the second half, we just had to capitalize on our chances,” said Reading United head coach Brendan Burke.
The United caught a break when New Jersey defender Alex Brito went “spikes up” into United forward, and Conrad Weiser alumni, Tyler Witmer, and was immediately shown a red card. Jersey, having to play a man down for the rest of the game, would never recover.
The floodgates officially opened in the 50th minute when Sinclair struck again with his deft passing ability. Midfielder Matt Baker pounded one top shelf, putting the United up 2-0. Midfielder Christian Barreiro showed off his touch on a beautiful “give and go” with Baker in the 55th minute, beating the helpless Ranger goalie, Adam Purdy. Reading finished off the scoring with a gorgeous 71st minute goal by forward Lasse Sohrweide, who “back-heeled” a Sinclair cross past Purdy.
While the offense showed plenty of firepower, it was the defense that held the Rangers to only one shot on the evening. Countless counter-attacks started by the backline fed the United offense, who outshot the helpless Rangers 16-1. The Rangers have now lost their past 11 games dating to last season, being outscored by opponents by a 38-7 margin in those games. The United are now undefeated in their last 10 regular season games (7-0-3), and look to continue that stretch against the Westchester (N.Y.) Flames on Wednesday evening.
The United’s return home on May 20th at Oley Valley High School, to face the Ocean City Nor’easters at 7:30pm. Reading will then kick off their Professional Friendlies Series against the USL PRO Harrisburg City Islanders at Exeter’s Don Thomas Stadium on May 24th at 7:00pm, and the MLS Philadelphia Union a week later on the 31st at 7:30pm. Print-at-home tickets for the friendlies are available through showclix.com/event/readingunitedac. All other tickets and information can be found on readingunitedac.com.
Reading United 4, New Jersey Rangers 0
Goals - Reading: David Rodriguez (15’, 1), Matt Baker (50’, 1), Christian Barreiro (55’, 1), Lasse Sohrweide (71’, 1)
Assists - Reading: Hasani Sinclair (1, 2, 3), Matt Baker (1)
Shots - Reading 16, New Jersey 1
Saves - Reading 0, New Jersey 5
Fouls - Reading 8, New Jersey 12
Offsides - Reading 4, New Jersey 3
Corners - Reading 7, New Jersey 0
Yellow Cards - Reading: Christian Barreiro (27’)
Red Cards - New Jersey: Alex Brito (44’)
Full Statistics Download: http://db.tt/1DTHALP
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