Minneapolis City is 1-0-0 in the very early going in USL League Two, but the one win was a convincing one. MNUFC Academy finished their MLS NEXT Homegrown Division season on the 9th of May.
Alex Morawiecki's Loons are the U-18 squad, the highest age group before players go pro in MLS NEXT Pro's MNUFC2 or the first team.
The starters in a heavily rotated squad for the hosts were :
Moritz Krenc (GK), Will Schmidt, Curtis Wagner, Rayme Nyembwe, Dubem Obilo, Ari van Mol, Jack Dancer, Jacob Klein, Phil Caputo, Julian Banks, Caleb Capone
Their counterparts from MNUFC Academy :
Keane Perkins (GK), Jadan Bernard, Sullivan Maynes, Emery Ortwein, William Maynes, Mo Bojang, George Porter, Cal Grulke, Lennox Moua, Irvin Hernandez, Griffin Giel
The teams were obviously filled with talent but the only goal of the first half came from MNUFC Academy graduate (and current Wisconsin Badger) Julian Banks, tapping home from close in from a cross from his college team mate Caleb Capone.
The second half was a lot livelier. Ten minutes into the 2nd and Tomas Menna, who is actually a Minneapolis City player in USL League Two play, provided a cross which a defender put in the goal to tie the game. The lead would be re-established only 10 minutes later, with St Cloud State Husky Phil Caputo's cross-field pass in the area to Shea Bechtel (St Olaf grad), reversed into the 6 yard box for Capone to score.
Bechtel got on the scoreboard himself, putting his foot through one from 20 yards out, dipping past Perkins at the near post to make it 3-1 in the 69th minute. He then followed up 5 minutes later with a headed goal from a Caputo cross from the right, after neat setup by Ronan Selbo.
In the 77th minute, the Loons were awarded a penalty kick which was softly rolled into the bottom corner by James McCann. McCann subsequently had a breakaway which could have made it 4-3 but he was chased down by the Crow defense.
The coup de grace was added in the 85th minute, when Ari van Mol shrugged off his defender and hammered a shot from the left wing, which took a deflection off a defender and over the diving keeper.
A full photo gallery from PJ Ryan will be published soon.
Next Up:
Minneapolis City is on the road in USL League Two play St Croix Legends next, over in Stillwater, Minnesota on Wednesday.
