The visitors were able to snatch a 2-2 draw against Toronto FC II thanks to a controversial late penalty at the Ontario Soccer Centre this past weekend.
With the draw TFC II extends their winless streak to three matches, whereas Charlotte extends their unbeaten streak to nine matches (4-0-5).
The draw doesn’t help the Independence who is in a race for the final playoff spot in the East.
Both the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the Harrisburg City Islanders won this past weekend, putting them ahead of Charlotte for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto FC II sit 11th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 5-14-4 following the draw.
It was the young Reds that opened up the scoring early in the first half.
Off a dead ball at the midway point of Charlotte’s half, Mo Babouli played a pass out wide to Skylar Thomas who put in a low cross into the box that ended up being deflected into the by Independence defender Patrick Slogic.
Slogic was credited with the own goal to give TFC II the lead in the 14th minute.
The lead was short lived, however, as Charlotte equalized 2 minutes later. Off a corner Slogic got up and headered it past Roberts to level the score.
TFC II would have had their second of the match if not for a huge save by John Berner. Luca Uccello was played in alone but was robbed in tight by Charlotte Independence goalkeeper John Berner.
There was a bit of a scuffle between both teams near the end of the first half.
Raheem Edwards got around his defender in the box and was bumped into Berner as he came out to collect the loose ball.
Berner took exception to the bump and that initiated some pushing and shoving between the clubs.
The young Reds continued attacking following the break and were rewarded in the 57th minute after a beautiful tic-tac-toe play between Edwards, Babouli, and Jay Chapman.
Babouli made a trivela pass through to Chapman who placed it into the bottom left corner to give TFC II the lead.
The visitors were able to find a late equalizer after a controversial penalty was called against TFC II’s Emeka Ononye in the 87th minute.
Charlotte’s Enzo Martinez went to shield the ball against Ononye and dropped as soon as he felt a bit of contact from the TFC II defender.
The ref awarded a penalty kick to Charlotte and Ryan Finley placed it into the bottom left corner to tie that match.
Manny Aparicio nearly gave TFC II the victory in the 90th minute of the match but his left-footed volley smacked the crossbar.
Toronto’s next match comes on Saturday, September 5th against FC Montreal, their final home match at the Ontario Soccer Centre this season. Kick-off is set for 3PM ET.
Scoring Summary
TFC II – Patrick Slogic (OG) 14’
CHAR IND – Patrick Slogic 16’
TFC II – Jay Chapman 58’ (Molham Babouli)
CHAR IND – Ryan Finley 88’ (PK)
Misconduct Summary
None
Records:
Toronto FC II: 5-14-4 19pts.
Charlotte Independence: 8-6-9 33pts.
Lineups
Toronto FC II – Quillian Roberts; Wesley Charpie, Skylar Thomas, Clement Simonin (Emeka Ononya HT), Mark-Anthony Kaye; Luca Uccello (Manuel Apparicio 84’), Chris Mannella ©, Jay Chapman, Raheem Edwards (Sal Bernal 73’), Buba Jobe (Reshon Phillip 63’); Molham Babouli (Massimo Mirabelli 90’)
Substitutes Not Used: Phil Di Bennardo, Jordan Hamilton
Charlotte Independence – John Berner; Mechack Jerome, Patrick Slogic (Jack Metcalf 83’), Bilal Duckett, Henry Kalungi (Jack Thompson 45’); Andrew Ribeiro ©, Daniel Jackson (Caleb Calvert 72’), Enzo Martinez, Paolo Del Piccolo, Carlos Alvarez (Raphael Cox HT); Tomasz Zahorski (Ryan Finley 63’)
Substitutes Not Used: Eric Ati, Jacl Thompson
