ST. PETERSBURG — A sellout crowd never gave up on its Rowdies on Sunday night, but the three goals Tampa Bay gave up in the first half proved deadly for their hopes for a USL Championship trophy.
Orange County stunned Tampa Bay for the franchise’s first title, 3-1 before an announced crowd of 7,521 at Al Lang Stadium.
Leo Fernandes’ 57th-minute goal had the stadium buzzing and hoping for a repeat of the late comeback the Rowdies pulled off in the Eastern Conference final, but the hosts ran out of steam.
“Who prepares you for being 3-nil down at halftime in a Cup final? Highly unusual,” Rowdies coach Neill Collins said. “We wanted to get a goal. We got the goal at a great time. We knocked the door down, but the boys put in so much energy, (and) we fell short. But we put ourselves behind the eight ball with a couple of things that we did in the first half.”
The Rowdies (26-8-2) had not allowed three goals in a match since August 2019. And Orange County had scored only two goals total in its three previous playoff rounds. But against goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena, substituting for injured Evan Louro, Orange County struck for a 3-0 halftime lead.
Louro hurt his right knee landing awkwardly in the postgame celebration last weekend after the conference final win.
Ronaldo Damus, who had both of Orange County’s regulation playoff goals, got the first two Sunday. The match took a drastic turn when Orange County goalkeeper Patrick Rakovsky denied Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti’s penalty-kick attempt in the 20th minute. Guenzatti made solid contact, but Rakovsky dove to his right to make the stop.
“I’ve had them go in before. (Sunday) it didn’t. Not my best game, either,” said Guenzatti, who scored 22 goals this season, with five coming on penalties. “I thought we dominated the whole game. I thought we played really well. But we didn’t take advantage of our chances. They did, and they won.”
Five minutes later, on a turnover by Rowdies right center back Jordan Scarlett, Orange County took the lead. Scarlett turned to send the ball up the right sideline but at the last moment chose to send it back to a teammate, and Damus rolled right into the path of the pass and one-timed the ball past diving Arozarena.
Though the Rowdies took back control of possession, it didn’t matter. On Orange County’s next scoring chance, its lead was doubled. Eric Calvillo sent in a cross to Damus, who was marked by two Rowdies but turned quickly and knocked a shot off the turf and inside the left post. Calvillo added a virtual assist on the third goal, drawing a foul 25 yards away that turned into Mikko Kuningas’ blast of a free kick in the 45th minute.
Louro was honored before the game as the USL Goalkeeper of the Year, but he was on crutches.
“Highly unlucky to have that happen,” Collins said. “I don’t think Raiko was necessarily at fault (Sunday), but when you have a keeper that’s been as good as Evan’s been all year, you’d obviously like him to have the opportunity to play in the final.”
Tampa Bay outshot Orange County 11-4 in the half and 24-7 for the night. Scarlett was removed at halftime, with Laurence Wyke slotting back to defense and Dayonn Harris inserted into the attack. Harris did well to create threats, including the Rowdies’ goal.
After that the Rowdies kept the pressure coming but Orange County, which had allowed just two goals during the eight-match win streak it brought into the final, did well to stabilize things defensively. Center back Rob Kiernan came up with 13 clearances.
Orange County had several chances late for a fourth goal, but Arozarena made two spectacular saves. So did Rakovsky, including a reflex stop on supersub Lucky Mkosana’s 86th-minute effort that had the feel of a rally killer.
A few dozen visiting fans were able to soak in the first crown for the franchise that kicked off in 2010. Several hundred Rowdies faithful stuck around to console the players, who generally were in good spirits but lamented the missed opportunity. Tampa Bay posted the top record in the league during the regular season, 19 points better than Orange County’s.
“There will be a few regrets from a couple of players I’m sure, but they’ve done this club so proud,” Collins said. “It’ll either break you or make you stronger, and (our guys) ... it’ll make them stronger.”