Max Lesser, ArmadaFC.com | April 15, 2017

MATCH CENTER

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was a gorgeous night for soccer at Hodges Stadium as the Jacksonville Armada FC took on the newly-formed San Francisco Deltas for the first time in the club’s history.

For the third-straight match, the Boys in Blue remain undefeated and shutout their opponent without conceding a goal. This keeps the Armada FC in first place in the NASL standings.

“It’s massive”, said head coach Mark Lowry. “I mean I take as much pride in that as I do scoring at the other end. Three clean sheets in three games tells you how good the guys are that we have back there.”

Although the match ended in a draw, the two clubs fought tooth-and-nail, literally. At the final whistle, there were a total of six yellow cards handed out, four to the Armada, and two to the Deltas.

Most notably, in the 65th minute, the two benches cleared and met after a hard tackle made by J.C. Banks. Shoving ensued from players racing across the field and meeting in front of the Armada FC bench. Though it seemed certain a red card was imminent, the only card handed out was a yellow to Banks. The conversation between the three referees lasted almost five minutes.

“There were some interesting moments in that one,” said Defender Aaron Pitchkolan. “I think it started early on in the game with that tackle on Drew [Beckie], I think that kind of set the tone for some of the tackles."

Pitchkolan referred to the 4th minute of play, when Pablo Dyego seemed to kick Beckie after a hard tackle.

Though it was a scoreless match, the two clubs brought plenty of entertainment to the 3,512 fans on hand. This was the first evening match of the Armada FC’s new home at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium.

From here, the Armada hit the road to visit the New York Cosmos on April 22 at MCU Park.

MATCH REPORT

Starting XI:

JAX (4-2-3-1): Patterson-Sewell, Ryden, Pitchkolan, Beckie, Jérôme, Steinberger (Eloundou 78'), Maripuu, George, Blake, Banks, Glenn (Gebhard 84')

SFD (4-3-3): Peiser, Teijsse, Attakora, Reiner, Ouimette (Burke 74'), Stephens (Jordan 83'), Bekker, Portilla, Jackson (Cruz 88'), Dyego, Heinemann

Scoring Summary:

none

Discipline:

SFD: Dyego (caution) 5'

JAX: Ryden (caution) 8'

JAX: Pitchkolan (caution) 20'

SFD: Heinemann (caution) 44’

JAX: Banks (caution) 67'

JAX: Blake (caution) 90'+1

Attendance:

3,512