Last Saturday night in North Carolina, Durham County Memorial Stadium was THE place to be. Bright Leaf Battalion started the evening off right with an epic tailgate, and the fans made their way into the stadium looking for their first win of the 2017 season. (Spoiler alert: they’d leave happy.)

A scoreless start full of chances

The Bulls came out ready in the first half, but so did the Dynamo, with many opportunities from both sides. Great shots and counter attacks came to nothing in the final third though, as neither side was able to convert on those attempts.

The official scoresheet said that TRFC goalkeeper Jackson Hawthorne only recorded five saves, but I’m pretty sure that it had to be at least twice that.

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Alex Winn came out ready to play too. In the first half, Winn missed a very nice opportunity that could have put the Bulls up one to nothing early in the first 15 minutes. (In the second half, he was able to convert, so no worries there.)

The game entered halftime tied at 0–0, but it was an entertaining first half to say the least.

The goals pour in in the second half

Again in the second half, the Bulls came out firing on all cylinders, ready to play. But this time, it looked like the Dynamo were just not ready for the attacks that Tobacco Road continued to bring to them. Unlike in the first when both teams looked pretty equal, each squad looked totally different in the second.

The scoring started off with a very nice goal by Teddy Mullin.

Alex Winn continued to set the game on fire in the second half and was able to put a nice ball in the back of the net just ten minutes later. Winn received a sweet pass right down the middle from Jonathan Ray in between two defenders and was able to chip one right over the goal keeper. 2–0.

In the 76th minute of the game, the Bulls started to lead yet another very strong attack. Even though they were outnumbered by the Dynamo defense, Jared Rist was able to send in a nice pass to go to the corner of the box and received the ball back to send it right to the corner of the net. That put Tobacco Road up 3–0.

The celebration was incredible too, when Jared Rist threw up the horns to represent the Bull City and then point to all the fans in the crowd. That just showed how much the fans were getting behind their team all night, a great recognition from the goalscorer too.

Tobacco Road got a penalty shot in the 81' minute to try and go up 4–0, but goalkeeper Ryan Cretens made a very impressive save to keep the Bulls from scoring a fourth.

Sadly for him, he couldn’t keep it 3–0 forever. Nine minutes later, into five minutes of added time, Jonathan Ray was able to find the back of the net to close out a dominant performance.

The support of the fans during this season opening game was incredible. Very good work Bright Leaf Battalion, and of course to Tobacco Road FC for defending the Bull City in their PDL opener.

Thanks for reading this week’s recap! Tobacco Road stays at home again this week and will host the Myrtle Beach Mutiny this Friday night at 7pm. Bright Leaf Battalion will have another tailgate before the game at 5:30 in the parking lot. There are still tickets available for the game so make sure to spread the word about Bull City’s very own soccer team. And of course, for all things Tobacco Road FC and PDL this season, make sure to come back to Soccer ‘N’ Sweet Tea and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.