TERZAGHI STARTS, SCORES ,,,, KICKERS WIN! KICKERS WIN! KICKERS WIN!
Three-times USL League One scoring champion and MVP
EMILIANO TERZAGHI made his first start of the season
for the success-starved Richmond Kickers Wednesday night
(July 3). Guess what? They won 2-1 … Terzaghi scored the
first goal midway of the first half ... CHANDLER
O’DWYER the game-winner about as late as it gets … On
the next to last touch of the game, the 6-2 British import, 25,
turned a long free kick by NILS VINYALS into a perfect
header from five yards that enabled Richmond (W3-T3-L5)
to hand Forward Madison FC (5-4-1) its first USL League
One loss of the season … Just when it seemed the Kickers, in
what has been a disappointing if injury-plagued campaign,
would be denied victory despite a well-played, hopeful
exhibition that deserved better, it was O’Dwyer, who entered
as a reserve in the 76th minute, to the rescue. Richmond
moved to seventh place while the loss kept second-place
Madison a point behind first-place Greenville … Sidelined
for much of the season with a leg injury suffered almost a
year ago … Terzaghi scored his 56thgoal as a Kicker – first
since August – in the 22d minute after a giveaway by
Madison in its own end. A short pass from ADRIAN
BILLHARDT set up a left-footed blast by Terzaghi from 16
feet … With the 33-year-old Argentinian joining Billhardt up
front in coach DARREN SAWATSKY’s 4-4-2 lineup, the
Kickers looked unlike the same team that had all kinds of
trouble scoring most of the year and had been shutout in
eight of 18 previous matches (all competition) … Richmond
threatened often, especially in the first half. Playing his most
minutes (75) of the season, Terzaghi went down with leg
cramps and had to be replaced … From there it was a matter
of whether Madison, the league’s second most prolific side,
could find the equalizer … Kickers keeper PABLO
PARAmade five saves including three point-blank shots ...
but had little chance on a flick of a header by JUAN
GALINDEZ in the 90th minute off one of seven corner
kicks by Madison. A set piece can’t work better than this one
did. Galindez was stationed about 10 yards wide of the goal
when he got just enough of his head on the ball to direct it to
the far left corner. Well screened, Para never saw the ball
until it was too late … For O’Dwyer, who replaced Terzaghi,
the goal was his fourth in league play, tying him with
Billhardt for the team lead ... It was the Kickers’ fourth shot
on goal ... and only one of the second half … before a City
Stadium crowd of 5,574 as well as a CBS Sports
Network audience, their first national television
appearance since 2018 … “We really needed this,”
Sawatsky said.
Until next time ...
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