The Hawks back at home (Town and Country Sports Complex) after a not-so glorious road trip up north came out and took it to Seattle with goals from Lucas, Lowey and Alvarez. The game started in slow fashion with each team trying to work the ball up the pitch with a passing attack. With the pitch being oversized compared with the previous home games at local High Schools the teams were enjoying the space to put together passing combinations.
In the 37th minute Cincinnati put together a small rally at goal with Degand shooting from about 8 yards out from an angle on the left side that was skimmed along the cross bar falling to Lucas who shot and sent the ball over the crossbar. This rally apparently shook Seattle up a bit as in the 41st minute Ryan Lucas scored an unassisted goal from about 18 yards out giving the Hawks the 1-0 edge.
With the 2nd half beginning, Seattle started taking it to the Hawks with ball possession and shots that were getting close to the mark. At the 60th minute Farrell found a sprinting Ching and Ching one-touched it into the back of the net from straight on with only the keeper to beat. This equalizer was to be short lived however with the Hawks coming back 11 minutes later when Lindenmayer spotted Simon Lowey sprinting in and Simon shot the ball past a diving keeper giving the Hawks a 2-1 edge. The Hawks excited at this point, maybe a bit to excited started committing some fouls that could have been avoided. All that was needed was a substitution to get the Hawks back on track. Byaruhunga came on for Lucas and his fresh legs gave the Hawks the breath of air they needed to get a 3rd goal. Byaruhunga made a beautiful cross pass to Alvarez and he prompted took care of it scoring the 3rd goal to put the game out of Seattles reach.
Cincinnati with the win goes to 4-5 and Seattle loses its first game making them 8-1.
LINEUPS
Cincinnati Seattle
GK 12 Ueltschey GK 23 Burpo
D 25 Antongirolam (21 Fisher 66') D 5 Barton
D 2 Meyer D 2 Jenkins
D 19 Mercik D 6 Edwards
M 7 Lowey M 12 Nguyen (14 Daligcon, 69')
M 6 Alvarez M 4 Gregor
M 3 Degand M 7 Obrien
M 15 Rockey M 16 Brown (11 Smith, 83')
M 11 Lindenmayer (16 Roettker, 98') F 8 Ching
F 9 Lucas (5 Byaruhanga, 77') F 13 Sawatsky
F 10 Matis (26 Teterick, 83') F 10 Farrell
STATS Cincinnati Seattle
Shots 9 17
Saves 5 2
Offside 8 1
Corner Kicks 2 5
Fouls 12 9
CAUTIONS and EJECTIONS
Cincinnati - Antongirolam 33' (Caution)
Cincinnati - Lucas 77' (Caution)
GOALS
Cincinnati - Lucas 41'
Seattle - Ching (Assist - Farrell) 60'
Cincinnati - Lowey (Assist - Lindenmayer) 71'
Cincinnati - Alvares (Assist - Byaruhunga) 81'
Mike Senger
A-League.com match reporter
