CARY, NC (May 28, 2022) – North Carolina FC advanced into second place in USL League One standings with a 2-1 win over the visiting Richmond Kickers on Saturday night. Recovering an early 1-0 deficit, the North Carolina side relied on a first half brace from Garrett McLaughlin to secure three points and climb up the table. With two goals scored in tonight’s contest, McLaughlin once again leads the Golden Boot race having tallied six goals on the season. Emiliano Terzaghi recorded the lone goal for the Kickers.
“I’m extremely pleased with the way the guys turned around a poor start to the game, a poor first 15-20 minutes,” said Head Coach John Bradford following the match. “We felt loose, but the guys were able to mentally put that behind them and start finding their way a little bit. Something we’ve been preaching is that consecutive goals win games. Rarely do we score a goal and then immediately score another goal, it’s usually more of a back and forth and whoever scores the last goal wins the game. It was nice to have that response in the first half and a really good defensive effort in the second half. Good job to the boys on being able to see out a good result.”
“It was a great team win,” said McLaughlin. “The message all week was to play a complete game and to get a consecutive win, and it feels awesome to have done both.”
Terzaghi opened the scoring in tonight’s match, putting away his fifth goal of the season in the 13th minute of play to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. NCFC’s response came in the 36th minute, capitalizing on a corner kick taken by Luis Arriaga. Finding the head of McLaughlin in the box, the striker’s slight redirection was enough to slip past Richmond goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald and level the score at 1-1. Arriaga picked up his second assist of the season on the play.
Just six minutes later, Jaden Servania was taken down in the Richmond box, drawing a penalty kick. Stepping up to take the kick was McLaughlin, who converted the penalty to record the brace and edge NCFC into a 2-1 lead as the first half concluded. With the lead now in hand, the second half required a solid defensive performance from Jordan Skelton, Gustavo Fernandes, Chris Lue Young, and Nelson Flores Blanco, a task which the group delivered on as NCFC earned three points in back-to-back weekends. Likewise impressive was Will Pulisic, who recorded several key saves throughout the match to deny the Kickers a chance at an equalizer.
“Really proud of the performance and mentality of the team,” said Pulisic. “When moments got tough during the game, everyone dug in and gave even more. To follow up our last win with another three points is massive and will help push us forward this season.”
Up Next: North Carolina FC will travel to face Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC for the second time this season on Wednesday, June 8 at 9 p.m. ET at Future Legends Complex in Windsor, CO. The match will air on ESPN+.
Match Notes:
- North Carolina FC maintained 49% possession throughout the match, completing 375 passes.
- Garrett McLaughlin now leads the USL League One Golden Boot race with six goals scored this season.
- Luis Arriaga recorded his second assist of the season, providing the service for McLaughlin’s first goal.
Box Score:
NCFC (4-4-2): Will Pulisic, Christian Lue Young, Jordan Skelton ©, Gustavo Fernandes, Nelson Flores Blanco, Raheem Somersall, Luis Arriaga, Jaden Servania (Cole Frame – 73’), Nelson Martinez, Garrett McLaughlin (Britton Fischer – 90+1’), Oalex Anderson (Max Flick – 79’)
Subs Not Used: Nicholas Holliday, Drew Kerr, Nicolas Rincon, Showkat Tahir
RIC (4-3-3): Akira Fitzgerald, Stuart Ritchie, Chris Cole (Simon Fitch – 46’), Nathan Aune, S Payne, Dakota Barnathan (Vincenzo Candela – 48’), Nil Vinyals, Owayne Gordon (Matt Bolduc – 74’), Dante Moran Correa (Ethan Bryant – 74’), Matthew Bentley (Jonathan Bolanos – 63’), Emiliano Terzaghi
Subs Not Used: Leonardo Baima, Will Palmquist
Score:
NCFC: 2
RIC: 1
Goals:
NCFC: Garrett McLaughlin (Luis Arriaga) – 36’, 42’ (PK)
RIC: Emiliano Terzaghi – 13’
Cautions:
NCFC: Jordan Skelton – 37’, Gustavo Fernandes – 65’
RIC: Matthew Bentley – 28’, Nathan Aune – 35’, Stuart Ritchie – 64’
Ejections:
NCFC: –
RIC: –