With two big wins over the weekend, the Brigade will look to carry the momentum into Tuesday’s US Open Cup match with the Portland Timbers on Tuesday night.
The San Jose Frogs (5-3-0) arrived into Bakersfield ready to play but the issue was, they were over an hour and a half late for the game. The Frogs departed San Jose at approximately 12:30pm and were looking to coast into Bakersfield and take in the sites. However, after being on the road for about two hours, their bus broke down and left them stranded somewhere along Interstate 5. Another bus was sent from San Jose to pick them up but meanwhile, both teams and the USL were trying to decide on whether or not the game would happen and at what time should they call it off. “Preparation time was the main concern for us as we had the Seals coming in the next day for a 1pm game,” stated Vice President and General Manager Joe Jimenez. “Once we found out they had boarded the second bus, it was at that time the decision was made to go ahead with the game,” added Jimenez.
The Brigade (5-4-0) were first to score and did so in the 16th minute of play. A foul was called on the Frogs around 25 yards in front of their goal. Brigade Midfielder Humberto Lopez stepped up and bent a ferocious kick into the upper left corner of the goal hitting nothing but net to give the Brigade a 1-0 lead. In the 34th minute of play, the Brigade scored their 2nd goal of the game. Brigade forward Santiago Aguilera finished on a shot blasted by Lopez to give the Brigade a 2-0 lead. The Final Score of the game cam in the 58th minute of play as Frogs Defender Frankie Mata found the ball off a corner kick and finished it to give San Jose their only goal of the night. The end result was a 2-1 victory for the Brigade.
The Brigade and the Seals (3-4-0) battled on Sunday and at half time, the score read 0-0. However, the Brigade would not forget their loss to the Seals in May so easily. In the 62nd minute of play, Brigade Forward Santiago Aguilera froze the Seal Keeper and blasted a shot into the back of the net to give the Brigade a 1-0 lead. That goal would be all the Brigade would need to send the Seals North and back to their precious Bay. With the two wins over the weekend, the Brigade avenge two earlier season game losses and put themselves back into contention, in the Southwest Division.
Next, the Brigade will play host to USL’s Division I Portland Timbers on Tuesday June 12th at 7:30 pm at Bakersfield Christian High School. This is a 1st Round game of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and is Bakersfield first ever qualifying for the tournament. “We’ve got some momentum going into this game and we’re all looking forward to taking it in and playing some good soccer and moving on to round 2,” stated Brigade Vice President and General manager Joe Jimenez . The winner of the match will move on to the 2nd Round of the tournament and will face either the Banat Arsenal of the USASA or the Seattle Sounders of the USL’s First Division. The winner of the 2nd round will face a team from the MLS.
For more information pertaining to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, visit the official Open Cup website at www.usopencup.com.
For more information on the Bakersfield Brigade, please visit: http://www.bakersfieldbrigade.com or call 410-KICK.
