Stoppage Time Goal Propels Redlands FC to 1-1 Draw

Redlands FC finished up their season-opening Arizona road trip Sunday night against Stars FC. After a bizarre sprinkler induced delay and a late goal in stoppage time, Redlands came away with a road point thanks to a 1-1 draw.

The opening ten minutes were once again a struggle for Redlands, as Stars controlled possession and established their style of play early on. The most dangerous opportunities came in the 7th and 8th minute, when Redlands goalkeeper Tony Flores was forced to make a diving and kick save respectively to keep the game at 0-0. 

A few minutes after that sequence, a ball cleared out of play hit one of the sprinklers near the sideline, causing it to shoot off water in between the teams two benches. The chaos caused a delay that lasted roughly 10 minutes before the water was finally shut off and play resumed. 

The delay seemed to benefit Redlands though, as they slowly started to tilt the games momentum and played their best 10 minutes of the first half from the 30-40th minute. That continued into the 43rd minute where they got their first shot on goal that was saved by Stars goalkeeper Noah Lawrence. 

However, in the first minute of a lengthy stoppage time period, Stars FC transitioned from box-to-box in a matter of seconds before Ben Assane Fall received a pass and booted it into the net to give Stars a 1-0 lead. Just like that, for the second straight day, Redlands would head into the locker room down a goal. 

The first roughly 40 minutes of the second half produced a lot less action, with neither team really threatening to score. That changed in the 86th minute when Stars FC got an excellent individual run from their winger, but the ball sent into the box slowly rolled across the goal line with no final touch made. 4 minutes later, Tony Flores made what would prove to be a huge save as he punched away an incoming shot. 

After this, Redlands finally found their window to attack. A rocket of a shot on the ground was stopped by Lawrence, but just two minutes later an unexpected deflection on a cross found the foot of Redlands substitute Efren Nunez Dominguez, who chipped it over the keeper to even up the score. Redlands would have a corner kick in the final moments searching for a victory, but the two resulting shots were blocked. The final whistle blew shortly after, and Redlands had earned their first point of the season. 

Overall, Redlands picked up just 1 of a possible 6 points on their Arizona road trip, but at least were able to find some momentum towards the end.

Redlands will now only play in the state of California for the rest of the regular season. That stretch will begin with their home opener May 30th against City SC at 7 PM.

For more information and tickets for the match at Dodge Stadium on the campus of Redlands High School, be sure to visit redlandsfootballclub.com.