USL LEAGUE TWO: Fort Lauderdale United pulls stunner by cooling nationally-ranked Laredo Heat in extra time
- Dan Stickradt
- Jul 19
- 2 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – In its first season back in the USL League Two in nearly a decade, the Laredo Heat were shown the Round of 32 exit.
Fort Lauderdale United FC, the South Florida Division runner-up, outlasted Lone Star Division champion Laredo Heat 2-1 in a double-overtime affair on Friday which was marred by three red cards issued to the Heat.
Ethan Schumaker scored the game-winner five minutes into the first overtime, and the United defense shut down the short-handed Heat over the final 25 minutes of extra time at the Lakewood Ranch Premier Sports Campus near Sarasota, Florida.
The Laredo Heat – which saw two players issued red cards plus head coach Johnny Ibarra in the second half – finally broke the stalemate in the 45th minute when Sergio Eduardo Meza Camiillo found space near the top of the box and sent a bicycle kick-style shot into the back of the net.
The 1-0 lead was short-lived, as Fort Lauderdale United equalized three minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half with a penalty kick goal by Andres Morral to send the game into the second half deadlocked at 1-1.
The game remained tied until the 95th minute, thanks to Schumaker’s extra time heroics.
The man with the longest name in the USL League Two – Nigel Ekow Oheneba Van Haveren – earned the win in goal for Fort Lauderdale, which allowed just one goal to one of the USL League Two’s best teams in the regular season.
The HEat finishes the year with a fine 11-2-0 record. The side came in with a .917 win percentage and a 36-12 scoring edge this season but the red cards and playing short-handed during much of the second half and overtime ended up simmering the Heat in the end.
Fort Lauderdale United improved to 9-2-2 and to a 23-11 scoring differential with the win and will face Southern Conference Pod Sarasota Paradise – 2-0 winners over Sporting JAX Friday – in the Round of 16 Sunday at the same complex.
USL LEAGUE TWO PLAYOFFS SOUTHERN CONFERENCE PREVIEW: https://wix.to/IKl4w6Q
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