Orlando City 4 Harrisburg City Islanders 0
Orlando City closed out their regular season with a bang tonight as they destroyed Harrisburg City Islanders 4-0 in front of 4,549 fans at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The win was merely a formality as Orlando City clinched the USL PRO regular season title last week, but it does give Orlando some momentum heading into the first round of the playoffs next week and they’ll be very pleased to have been able to have given some other players a run out.
It didn’t take too long for Orlando to notch their first goal of the match and it really came against the run of play. Harrisburg had looked the most threatening in the opening spell but in the 22nd minute, fan favorite Dennis Chin (see picture sequence above) got the scoring started for City. Chin broke away from the Harrisburg back line and fired a strong shot past the started Islanders goalkeeper Chase Harrison to put the Lions up 1-0.
“It was great to get my first goal of the season,” Chin said after the game. “I have been waiting to score one for a long time here.”
For the remainder of the first half Orlando dominated and really could have added a second goal. It was not to be but Orlando made no mistake in the second half as Jaime Watson became the first player to score a hat-trick wearing the colors of Orlando City Soccer Club.
His first and Orlando’s second came in the 55th minute as Harrisburg’s Anthony Calvano handled in the penalty area. Up stepped Watson from the penalty spot and his shot found the bottom left corner. 2-0. Watson’s second came in the 80th minute as he showed both his strength and his technical ability to get past Harrisburg defender Andrew Marshall and rocket a shot past the despairing Harrison to score his second goal of the night, giving Orlando the 3-0 lead.
The scoring wasn’t done there and just moments later Watson sealed his third and a place in the record books. After a brilliant through ball from City defender Erik Ustruck, Watson was set up with a simple tap in to a wide open goal. 4-0 and not only was it Watson’s hat-trick but it was also Watson’s fifth goal in the last nine days, and eighth goal of the season.
“It was impressive what Jamie did tonight, “ said Orlando City Head Coach Adrian Heath.
So onto the play offs we go and next Saturday, 20th August will see Charleston Battery make the return trip to Orlando for the first game in the USL PRO play offs. It should be a fiery encounter as the last game didn’t end on the best of terms and Charleston will be looking to avenge two recent losses to Orlando and a 1-3-0 record this season.
Tickets are available for the first round of the playoffs! Call our ticket office at 855-ORL-CITY. For all of your Orlando City playoff news, be sure to check www.orlandocitysoccer.com all next week for special playoff coverage.
Scoring Summary
22nd Minute – Orlando: Dennis Chin
55th Minute – Orlando: Jamie Watson (penalty)
80th Minute – Orlando: Jamie Watson
84th Minute – Orlando: Jamie Watson (Erik Ustruck)
Orlando City Line-up
GK: Sean Kelley
D: Mechack Jerome, Wes Allen, Rob Valentino (80’ – Jack Traynor), Erik Ustruck
M: Charlie Campbell, Ian Fuller (61’ – Justin Fojo), Lawrence Olum, Jamie Watson
F: Dennis Chin, Devorn Jorsling (66’ – Kevin Molino)
More photo’s from the game are here.
