Triumph Defeats NY Cosmos 3-0 on Independence Day

Forrest Wimberly
11 hours ago
3 min read

Akio brace helps lift Triumph to first road win of the season

Photo Credit: New York Cosmos

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The Greenville Triumph picked up a massive 3-0 win on Independence Day on the road at the NY Cosmos to open their busy slate of July matches. Fireworks, a weather delay, several key saves, and a brace all highlighted the result for the Triumph.

Brandon Fricke scored on a corner kick in first-half stoppage time before William Akio scored his brace in the span of seven minutes during the second half to bring all three points back home to the Upstate. The win was the Triumph’s first USL League One road victory on the season and begins the club’s climb towards the playoff line with 20 League games still on the schedule for 2026.

The Cosmos enjoyed the better of play in the opening minutes and rattled the ball off the crossbar in just the 2nd minute. Greenville keeper Amal Knight was called on twice in the 13^th and 16^th minutes to first make a stunning 1v1 kick save and then a 1v1 smother to keep the match scoreless. The Cosmos hit the post in the 38^th minute while pressing in vain for the opening goal of the match.

A lengthy, 90-minute weather delay killed the Cosmos’ momentum and after play resumed it appeared the match would be heading to the break scoreless. The Triumph had other ideas and seven minutes deep into first-half stoppage time the visitors took the lead. Devin Boyce served in a driven corner kick to the near post where a streaking Brandon Fricke headed the ball down past the Cosmos’ defender guarding the near post to squeeze the ball into the nets for the 1-0 Triumph lead.

Greenville had the better spell of play to open the second half and the Cosmos were too slow to react on several occasions providing the Triumph with scoring opportunities. As fireworks exploded behind the Cosmos’ net in the adjacent neighborhood, William Akio stepped up to provide two quick goals in route to a brace and all three points for the Triumph.

A crunching tackle in the midfield from Lucas Meek sprang a quick counterattack as Meek ran the ball to the top of the Cosmos’ box before dishing the ball to Akio. Akio collected the ball just wide left of the target and finished the play with a low, driven ball into the near post in the 58^th minute. 2-0 Greenville.

Akio was on his brace just minutes later in the 64^th minute after Devin Boyce scooped a ball up and over the Cosmos’ backline to the running Akio who shot the ball into the onrushing keeper in a wild scramble for the ball. As Akio and the keeper spilled to the turf, it was Akio back first on his feet where he collected the stray ball and calmly placed it into the open nets for the commanding 3-0 lead.

“I been working really hard and I knew I had to step up today for the team, “ said the Triumph’s William Akio after the match. “Recently we been in a tough spell, so Godwilling we build off of this and become the squad we all know we can be. All praise to the most high.”

The Cosmos never seriously threatened the Greenville nets again and Amal Knight earned the shutout win in the Triumph goal in his 90 minutes of work.

Greenville moves up the USL One table into 15^th place with a record of 4W-7L-1T on 13 points. The top eight clubs make the USL League One playoffs, and the Triumph are currently 8 points adrift of that line. The silver lining is that with the delayed construction of GE Vernova Park earlier this season, the Triumph have 20 league games remaining on their schedule which is 3-5 games more than their rivals around them in the table making the playoffs clearly within the Triumph’s grasp for the 2026 season.

The Triumph return home to the Upstate and GE Vernova Park for a Wednesday, July 8 game versus the USL expansion Sarasota Paradise. Kickoff is set for 7 PM.