Key performers in Defiance’s shootout loss to The Town FC

Jeremiah Oshan -

The Tacoma Defiance were forced to settle for just one point after surrendering a penalty and then falling in a shootout on the road against The Town FC on Sunday. Chris Aquino gave the Defiance an early lead, but they could make it stand up. The Town then claimed the bonus point with a 2-1 win in the shootout.

Highlights

Standings

Key performers

Chris Aquino: The Defiance midfielder continued his hot run of form, scoring a header off a Dylan Teves cross. It was his eighth goal of the season — giving him the team lead — and his seventh in his last eight games. Aquino only recently graduated from high school, but has come into his form just as his playing time started to increase. He’s now on .92 goals per 90 minutes, tied for the second best scoring rate in MLS Next Pro.

Lars Helleren: The goalkeeper got a rare start and performed about as well as anyone could have hoped. He made three saves in regulation — all on quality shots — and then made three more saves in the shootout. The Edmonds native has now allowed just five goals in his four starts.

Kalani Kossa-Rienzi: The right back had another solid two-way performance and was a bit unlucky not to score a goal as he had two good chances stopped. He was 48 of 53 passing, 2 of 3 on tackles and was credited with 10 recoveries.

Stats

MATCH SUMMARY

Tacoma Defiance 1 (1) – The Town FC 1 (2)

Sunday, August 25, 2024 

Venue: PayPal Park

Referee: Velimir Stefanovic

Assistants: Mark Novosel, Karsten Gillwald

Fourth official: Iryna Petrunok

Weather: 83 degrees and sunny

SCORING SUMMARY

TAC – Chris Aquino (Dylan Teves) 17’

TTFC – Eduardo Blancas Maravilla (penalty) 67’

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

TAC – Chris Aquino (caution) 37’

TAC – Travian Sousa (caution) 65’

TTFC – Eduardo Blancas Maravilla (caution) 87’

TTFC – Emmanuel Ochoa (caution ) 90'

TAC – Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (caution) 90+2’

SHOOTOUT SUMMARY 

TAC – Gio Miglietti (saved)

TTFC – Julian Donnery (saved)

TAC – Owen O’Malley (missed)

TTFC – Eduardo Blancas Maravilla (saved)

TAC – Burke Fahling (missed)

TTFC – Jermaine Spivey (saved)

TAC – Blake Bowen (scored)

TTFC – Beau Leroux (scored)

TAC – Travian Sousa (saved)

TTFC – Aaron Edwards (scored)

LINEUPS & STATS 

Tacoma Defiance – Lars Helleren; Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Antino Lopez – captain, Stuart Hawkins, Travian Sousa; Snyder Brunell (Burke Fahling 77’), Sota Kitahara; Dylan Teves (Blake Bowen 73’), Chris Aquino (Yu Tsukanome 67’), Sebastian Gomez (Owen O’Malley 90+1); Osaze De Rosario (Gio Miglietti 46’)

Substitutes not used: Mohammed Shour, Shaun Brun

Total shots: 13

Shots on goal: 5

Fouls: 14

Offside: 0

Corner-kicks: 5

Saves: 3

The Town FC – Emmanuel Ochoa; Joel Garcia (Oscar Verhoeven 46’), Alejandro Cano (Jermaine Spivey 90+5’), Casey Walls, Ricardo Ibarra (Wilson Eisner 83’); Beau Leroux, Edwyn Mendoza (Rohan Rajagopal 88’), Cruz Medina; Aaron Edwards, Eduardo Blancas Maravilla, Riley Lynch (Julian Donnery 83’)

Substitutes not used: Chance Cowell, Sean Bilter, David Sweeney Hernandez Parra 

Total shots: 16

Shots on goal: 4

Fouls: 9

Offside: 2

Corner-kicks: 6

Saves: 4