Monterey Bay FC earned their first points in the USL Championship in style, with a 3-2 comeback win in the Oakland Roots’ home opener in front of a sellout crowd of 5,508 at Laney College.
“This one hurts a lot,” Head Coach Juan Guerra said. “I guarantee you that the boys are strong, focused and they’re going to fight back.”
Chase Boone was the man of the match for Monterey, earning a brace for scoring the Union’s first two goals and also taking over as the club’s emergency goalkeeper in the waning moments of stoppage time. Goalkeeper Rafael Diaz left the game due to injury and the Union had already used their five allotted substitutions.
Icelandic striker Ottar Magnus Karlsson earned a brace of his own for Oakland.
Oakland shook up its defense, bringing in Tarek Morad at center back for Alejandro Fuenmayor as well as goalkeeper Benny Diaz for his first game action. Emrah Klimenta also didn’t start for the second consecutive match, but did enter as a substitute in the 76th minute.
As the match began, Oakland dominated possession, slowly building up their attack from the back. But Boone’s 8th minute rocket from the top of the penalty area was an unexpected jolt for the home side.
The Roots searched for an equalizer by repeatedly testing Monterey’s offside trap. They looked particularly dangerous on corner kicks, with a header skidding off of the bar in the 35th minute and a Dariusz Formella header going over the bar two minutes later.
They finally equalized in the 39th minute, when Karlsson converted the penalty kick awarded on a handball by a Monterey defender.
And the Roots charged ahead in the 49th minute as a long ball out of the back found Edgardo Rito on the right side; he crossed it to Karlsson who was unmarked as he made his run to the near post.
But Monterey had another surprise in store for Oakland, evening the match on a corner kick in the 68th minute, as Boone’s soft header trickled into the net.
And the visitors grabbed the three points in the 89th minute, when they earned a free kick near the sideline. The kick went to the far post, where former Roots’ defender Kai Greene headed it into the path of Hugh Roberts, who headed it home from close range.
“We need to make sure we can keep the momentum and intensity for the whole game,” Guerra said. “Our ideas and vision aren’t changing. It’s probably going to take longer than we were expecting, but I have no doubt that it’s going to come.”
