Mike McCall | ArmadaFC.com Writer

Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (May 2, 2015) — Armada FC really knows how to throw a housewarming party.

After a record-setting debut at EverBank Field in April, the club took the field at their permanent home of Community First Park at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville on Saturday night and made it one to remember.

Tied in stoppage time against the defending North American Soccer League champions San Antonio Scorpions, Armada substitute Akeil Barrett juked a defender and played a through-ball to forward Alhassane Keita in the penalty area. Moving to his left, Keita cut a shot back across goal into the side netting, and the crowd of 8,143 launched into pandemonium — a deserving release of energy after a fast-paced, back-and-forth battle.

The win — sealed by goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo’s acrobatic save moments later — kept the Armada a perfect 2-0 at home and snapped a two-game losing streak that had been weighing heavily on the team after their road trip.

“Some of my friends were telling me, ‘Keita, today you are not even laughing. You look angry.’ I’m thinking about the game because I want my three points,” Keita said. “I’m excited because this is what I really wanted tonight. It’s not because of the time of scoring the goal, but to get the three points.”

Keita’s goal restored a lead the home side first took in the fourth minute via Pascal Millien, and which the Scorpions answered through an Omar Cummings scissor-kick in the eighth.

After trying out a 3-4-3 diamond formation last week in Tampa Bay, the Armada returned to the more familiar 4-3-3, but with Millien instead of midfielder Jaime Castrillon, who’s sidelined 2-4 weeks with an injury to his right ankle.

It was no surprise to see an early goal, given that the Armada entered Week 4 leading the league in goals per game (2), while the Scorpions led in goals allowed (2.3).

As things often do during Armada matches, the first goal began with Keita. He won the ball and quickly fed captain Marcos Flores, who rolled a perfect pass across to Millien as he ran through the center of the penalty area with two steps on his defender. The Haitian winger couldn’t miss from there, putting the home side up early.

But San Antonio came right back. After a free kick, the ball bounced for former Major League Soccer star Omar Cummings, and he connected with a stunning scissor kick to bury the ball in the far side of the net.

The rest of the half was played at a sometimes-frantic pace, with both teams throwing numbers forward and launching a series of counter attacks.

San Antonio’s early strategy was to send balls into the box for target man Bright Dike, whose 6-foot-1, 213-pound frame would be right at home on an American football field. But Armada center back Fabricio Ortiz put in a heroic effort to neutralize the big man, despite being down about six inches and 50 pounds.

“It’s not easy to play 90 minutes against big guys like that,” Millien said of Dike. “That’s [Ortiz’s] job right now. I’ve played in this league the past couple of years, and there are always strong guys. As a defender, you have to be ready to battle. Ortiz, Matt (Bahner), (Lucas) Trejo — those guys have been doing an unbelievable job.”

Meanwhile, Rodriguez and Trejo had their hands full with Cummings, who flew down the wings looking to get crosses in to Dike. And it was a similar story at the other end, where the Armada continuously found Millien streaking down the right early, while Scorpions defender Julius James had to put in a physical display to hold forwards Jemal Johnson and Keita back on the left.

Flores had the next-best chance around the half-hour mark after Johnson set him up in front of goal, but San Antonio keeper (and former Jacksonville University assistant coach) Daryl Sattler was up to the task and kept it out. Keita also thwarted a possible Dike goal when he tracked all the way back into the penalty area to disrupt what would have been an open shot.

Millien could have added a second toward the end of the half, but he couldn’t get solid contact on an angled volley from around 10 yards out, and Johnson had several good looks sail just over the crossbar.

As you might expect, that high-octane first half gave way to fatigue and fouls. One stretch featured six yellow cards in an 18-minute period, including two from one incident. Keita and Scorpions center back Nana Attakora both tumbled after nearly colliding with Sattler, and when Attakora stood and reached down, Keita fell back violently to the ground. Fans called for a red card, under the impression that Attakora had shoved Keita, but replays showed Keita had simulated to draw a foul. The end result was cards for both players, and Keita went on to draw yellows on two more Scorpions after running past them.

Once the card-fest cooled off, the match found the same energy that pulsed throughout the first half.

Johnson nearly got the winning goal in the 77th minute when he forced Sattler into a diving save. The Scorpions came right back with a header off the post that was nullified for offside, and Flores and Keita mis-timed a break at the other end that was also offside.

Barrett’s arrival in the 83rd proved to be the turning point, as he started the move that led to the winning goal by sprinting at midfielder Joseph Nane, beating him and playing a perfect pass to Keita.

“I don’t believe in making changes just to make changes,” co-head coach Guillermo Hoyos said. “We saw an opportunity where we could put [Barrett] in midfield. It’s obviously not magic, but it’s a true blessing to have the players do what they did.”

And after another electrifying performance, Keita was a deserving match-winner in the final seconds.

“He’s writing the history pages for this club,” Hoyos said.

The Armada will return to Community First Park at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday against the Indy Eleven. Tickets are available by calling 1.844.2.Armada or by visiting armadafc.com.