Written by Ryan Flynn
Sarasota Paradise’s early-season woes continued on Wednesday night as they were shutout by Westchester SC, 2-0.
The Paradise were on the back foot early, as Westchester’s Dean Guezen took a shot inside two minutes that ricocheted off Alex Sutton. They would get another chance in the 8th minute when Bobby Pierre slotted a ball to Klye Evans who put the ball wide of the goal, denying the Golden Apple their best chance of the half. The New York side would continue to target the Sarasota defense, getting six shots on goal to Paradise’s one throughout the first half.
Sarasota would start the second half with a Maximus Tainio corner in the 45th minute that saw the midfielder float a ball into the box that was headed over goal in a missed opportunity. The first goal of the game would come in the 53rd minute when Guezen received a cross from Jonathan Jiménez and slotted it past Sarasota keeper Alex Sutton for his third goal of the season, giving Westchester a 1-0 lead. Sarasota would get another chance just a minute later when Mathew Cence weaved his way through defenders and fired with his left foot, just missing the goal by mere inches.
Westchester would go a man down in the 61st minute when right back Max Jennings committed his second foul within thirty seconds, earning him a red card and leaving the Golden Apple with ten men. Guezen continued past the Sarasota defense, slotting home a ball ricocheted off Sutton in the 65th minute to give Westchester a 2-0 lad.
From there, the Paradise were unable to convert their chances, with Westchester keeper Andrew Hammersley making three saves throughout the half to keep the Paradise off the scoreboard through the final whistle.
QUOTES:
“All credit to Westchester SC, they were better than us tonight and deserved the three points”, said Head Coach and Technical Director, Mika Elovaara
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted and have to keep working hard to improve. But also happy to have made my debut and excited to continue help the team on the field”, said defender, Hugo Bäckstrand.
UP NEXT
The Paradise make the journey back south to face in-state rival FC Naples in the “Battle for Paradise” on Saturday, April 11 in Naples.
Tickets to Sarasota Paradise’s next home game on April 22nd are available at https://tickets.sarasotaparadise.us/event/game-6-forward-madison-ewchhi