Written By: Ryan Flynn
After Wednesday night’s first away win in club history, the Paradise faced another quick turnaround against the New York Cosmos on Saturday, May 30th. The team embraced the adversity and displayed their A game at Premier Sports Campus to defend their home turf.
The first half saw Paradise control a majority of the possession, working the midfield and wings with precision to attack, creating one of the most dangerous chances in the game already after 45 seconds, when Javier Garcia, the NY Cosmos goalkeeper, denied Garrett McLaughlin with a supersave right in front of the goal. The Paradise midfield controlled the pace of play as Sarasota possessed the ball 57% of the time throughout the first half. The player to watch entering the game was Amadeus, and he lived up to expectations, leading the team in touches with 81 and completed 68 out of his 73 attempted passes during the game. On the other side of the ball, the back 4 for Sarasota were a thorn in the Cosmos’s side, blocking a majority of the shots New York took to keep the game scoreless as the minutes ticked by. Sarasota’s 18-year-old goalkeeper, Rockson Amedeka, was handed his first ever professional start in league play. Amedeka had a stellar performance, stepping up and making a crucial save in the first half and playing well throughout the game. Speaking postgame, head coach Mika Elovaara praised Amedeka, saying “…he made a huge save in the first half and he was very calm and composed at the back”.
The scoreless tie would eventually be broken in the opening minutes of the second half when New York’s Ajmeer Spengler sent a rolling ball towards the goal that just got by the fingers of Amedeka to make it 1-0 to the visitors and give Spengler his league leading sixth goal.
Sarasota would show grit and determination as they chipped away at the New York defense, finally equalizing in the 67th minute thanks to Matthew Bolduc. The midfielder embodied the definition of “right place, right time” as the setup into Cosmos territory saw him land in front of the goal, where he capped off a great possession sequence that saw the Paradise switch the point of attack to the left hand side, when a Bolanos through ball to Anderson Rosa unlocked the compact Cosmos defense and produced the leveler to make it a 1-1 game. “I think it’s just believe in ourselves, keep working together. We knew there were goals in this game for us” Buldoc said postgame. “But I think just the fact that we stuck together for a full 90 minutes again, that’s something that we can lean on. We can lean on the fact that we can go for 90, 95 minutes and still be dangerous until the final whistle.”
The game would remain tied at one until the 78th minute, when Sarasota was awarded a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. After another long sequence of Paradise possession, Garrett McLaughlin was looking to have a shot on goal and was fouled outside of the box by a Cosmos defender. Coming off his first goal of the season against AC Boise, the striker had another strong performance and drew a foul that ultimately produced the winner. Anderson Rosa calmly stepped up to the ball and curled the ball to the left past the Cosmos keeper to give Sarasota a 2-1 lead: “I saw that the wall was giving me a little bit of an angle and talked to Chandler [O’Dwyer] and said that I could take it…So yeah, a happy shot and very happy for the goal in the win,” Rosa commented after the game.
“Going down early is very difficult, especially when you’re tired from the trip we had out to the west. We saw that culture prevails, we’ve been building on it and I’m very proud of the guys and I’m very happy for them that they got the result.”- Head Coach Mika Elovaara
Sarasota’s defense clamped down in the final minutes, withstanding the Cosmos attacks in the dying embers of the game to secure its second straight win and another three points. Their defense display was terrific throughout, limiting the Cosmos to an xG of only 0.8 the entire game.
The Paradise showcased clinical accuracy in the game, with 8 of their 9 shots being on target. While the Cosmos generated more final third entries overall, the Paradise showcased higher efficiency, resulting in higher quality chances and more accurate shot attempts.
This game encapsulated the fitness, determination and persistence of this Paradise squad. The majority of the players had played 3 full games in the span of 7 days, adding on an additional 6,000 miles of travel. Even with these difficult circumstances, the group was able to stick together and persevere, completing a historic comeback and creating their first win streak on the year.
UP NEXT
Sarasota travels to Naples for the second time this season to face Naples FC in a USL Cup Group match on June 6.