Sarasota, FL – Even before the first whistle blew, anticipation was building for the Sarasota Paradise’s first home game of the season. Coming off last week’s win against Tampa Bay United the Paradise returned home to take on Swan City SC looking for win number 2.
The start of the game did not go the Paradise’s way, as a long pass from the Swan City backfield found its way past goalkeeper Charlie Farrar to give the Lakeland team a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute. The score remained like this until the 29th minute, when Kai Tamashiro took the ball near midfield and expertly wove his way through the Swan City defense, putting one away past the goalkeeper to tie the game at 1.
The game stayed deadlocked until the 46th minute when, after a pin baling effort got denied by the keeper just moments before, Will Pierce found Seth Mahlmeister who put it in the back of the net to give Sarasota a 2-1 lead heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Swan City put pressure on the Sarasota defense, but keeper Charlie Farrar acted as a brick wall, keeping out anything the Lakeland side fired at him. As the clock ticked past minute 53, Sarasota suddenly took charge, with a ball finding a streaking Juliano Manfro down the left side who expertly put it into the box and found a leaping Seth Mahlmeister, who headed it into the top corner to extend Sarasota’s lead to 3-1.
From there, it became a defensive battle, as both teams denied each other from scoring with aggressive defense and sound goalkeeping. The game looked to be all but over for Swan City entering the 91st minute, when a shot from 30 yards out remarkably found the goal to cut the Paradise lead to one. Paradise fans were on the edge of their seats as the remaining minutes ticked by, finally exhaling and celebrating as the whistle blew to give the Paradise their first home win of the season, and second in a row.
Seth Mahlmeister was named Man of the Match for his incredible two goal performance.
“Felt Great to get back in front of our fans and get a big win. It’s always great to see and hear all the support from the community. Their energy and support was huge throughout the game!”
Centerback, Roman Holt
UP NEXT
The Paradise travel east to face Weston FC (1-2-1) on Sunday, June 9 and are back on HOME TURF Wednesday June 12th. Click here for tickets
Kids under 16 get in FREE to all Paradise Home Games!