A Six Goal Night Between Fort Lauderdale & Brooklyn Didn’t Break Hearts

A fun three-goal draw for Paul Dennison’s Debut

Davie-FL- The debut of Interim Head Coach Paul Jennison for Fort Lauderdale United, as the South Florida side was looking to face its first visitors in the new year at Beyond Bancard Field against Brooklyn FC. From the opening whistle to the closing whistle, Fort Lauderdale looked strong and refreshed during the match and had a great battle against the club from Coney Island. After the full 90 minutes were up, these two sides shook hands in a hard fouight three goal draw

FTL opens the scoring

Fort Lauderdale United jumped into transition after a stop and started an attacking run. A low ball was sent toward Abby Hugh as she was making her run toward the area. She settled it down nicely, took a touch and smacked it off the bottom of the far post and in to open the scoring in the 30th minute. Already a positive start for the home side to take the lead, from the new addition to the club.

Corner goes in for the Equalizer

Brooklyn FC earned a corner along the near side. Samantha Kroeger delivered a good ball inside the area, where it was all up for grabs until Catherine Zimmerman leapt in the air and headed the ball in. While it looked like McKinley Crone did make the stop at first, the officials signaled a goal as Crone couldn’t stop the entire ball crossing over the line, and from the live shot, Crone had the ball in her hands while down on the pitch, but the ball was over the entire goal line. 

The visitors took the lead

After the restart, Brooklyn started to make their attacking run. Zimmerman was running down the near side, getting control of the ball, and finally got to it close to the end line. She looked up and made a nice cross to the far side, where Mylena Santos, who subbed into the match in the 45th minute, got a hold of the ball and took a hard rising shot that went to the upper back 90 and splashed inside the top of the net in the 46th minute. Fortunes changed in an instant as Brooklyn FC grabbed the lead.

FTL has an equalizer as well

Fort Lauderdale continued to attack the net and attempted to get the equalizer for themselves. After attacking down the near side, the ball was crossed toward the far side end line, the ball was slightly being knocked around until a quick pass to Jasmine Hamid got to the space she occupied, and she roofs her shot into the upper front 90. A big celebration from FTL as they were back on level terms in another wild and whacky match against Brooklyn FC in the 64th minute. 
Brooklyn FC goes down to Ten Women

Brooklyn FC goes down to Ten Women

Rebecca Cooke was given two yellow cards and then a red in the 75th minute. She was already on a yellow card before Brooklyn threw the ball back in. Cooke was fouled and went down, while she was down on the pitch, Cooke intentionally tripped up the Fort Lauderdale United player who committed the foul. The referee pulled out the second yellow and then went to his back pocket for the red card. Cooke pleaded her case, but to no avail, as she was sent off, giving her side a numerical disadvantage.

Brooklyn regains the lead

Brooklyn FC earned a corner at the far side and delivered it inside the area. The ball was cleared out but regained by the visitors. Kroger got the ball back, and she delivered a fantastic cross toward the near post. All of a sudden, Jordan Thompson made a move toward the ball while in the air, made a snap header that beat Crone to the near post, and in the 81st minute, Brooklyn FC regained the lead.

Last-Minute magic

FTL is looking for another equalizer to get the winner. As they were attacking down the near side. Laveni Vaka got the ball and pushed forward for a few steps until she delivered a great cross along the near side touchline to the area. Putting herself into a fabulous position was Ella Simpson, who positioned herself at the far post and, with her own snap header beats the keeper, and Fort Lauderdale equalized again in the 90th minute. After second half stoppage time ended, both sides took a point and went back to their locker rooms to discuss their perform

“Seeing the way that the players went after the game tonight, it’s got to feel good as a club. It is a point, it’s not a win, and obviously that’s the goal, but at the same time, you saw heart, resiliency, and battle — you can’t deny that. To be involved this week has been truly special, and we’re very excited for the remainder of the season. I think we’ve given ourselves, hopefully, a little bit of a jump start. The staff and the players know that if we can keep this up, then we can get some good things going forward,” said Interim Head Coach Paul Jennison

Fort Lauderdale United’s next match is on Saturday, February 21st, as the club will travel to face the Tampa Bay Sun at Suncoast Credit Union Field at 7:30 PM Eastern. You can watch it live streaming on NBC’s Peacock app or website.

Fort Lauderdale United News:

• Fort Lauderdale United makes Coaching changes
• Fort Lauderdale United Gets Taken Down by Spokane at Home
• Fort Lauderdale United Returns to Sporting Jax and earns a draw on the road

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