Patrick Brennan

pbrennan@enquirer.com

Just three games into its existence, FC Cincinnati is bringing a trophy home to the Queen City.

Head coach John Harkes' first-year USL soccer team clinched a victory in the four-team, round-robin IMG Academy Suncoast Pro Classic preseason tournament in Bradenton, Florida with a convincing 4-0 win Saturday against HB Koge of Denmark.

"If you asked any of the teams coming in how you'd want to do, this is a great situation for us," Harkes told Cincinnati.com after the game via phone. "This is a great start. It's a building block."

As part of the victory, FC Cincinnati will receive a $10,000 prize. Team President and General Manager Jeff Berding confirmed the team would receive its winners' trophy at the conclusion of the tournament later Saturday night.

FC Cincinnati's Andrew Wiedeman opened the scoring in the 58th-minute against the second-division Danish team with a successful penalty kick. Jimmy McLaughlin padded Cincinnati's lead with a goal seven minutes later, and Wiedeman put the game out of HB Koge's reach at 3-0 in the 78th minute.

Canadian midfielder Jamie Dell piled on late with a close-range goal to make it 4-0. His shot was the final kick of the match.

Cincinnati put itself in position for the preseason tournament win by taking four points in the standings from the first two games it played. The team erased a two-goal deficit late to tie KR Reykjavík, 2-2, last Saturday. On Wednesday, it defeated star-studded New York City FC, 2-1, after a flurry of late goals.

FC Cincy upsets NYCFC, 2-1

Xavier University product Luke Spencer appeared in all three games in the preseason tournament, scoring twice. FC Cincinnati has two more preseason games before it opens its regular season March 26. Its first home game at Nippert Stadium is scheduled for April 9.

Updated IMG Academy Suncoast Pro Classic standings:

1st - FC Cincinnati - 7 pts. - (2-0-1; 8 goals for, 3 goals against)

2nd - NYCFC* - 3 pts. - (1-1-0 ; 3 goals for, 2 goals against)

3rd - HB Koge - 3 pts. - (1-2-0; 2 goals for, 7 goals against)

4th - KR Reykjavík* - 1 pt. - (0-1-1; 3 goals for, 4 goals against)

*NYCFC and KR Reykjavík have a game in-hand, but have been eliminated by FC Cincinnati.

Three important things about FC Cincinnati’s preseason tournament performance

1. Luke Spencer, the 25-year-old Xavier product, was one of the Cincinnati’s most valuable players this week, and could be on his way to earning an important place on Harkes' team. Spencer appeared in all three games for Cincinnati, and scored in the first two games. Perhaps most important was his roughly 25-minute-long appearance Saturday against HB Koge. Spencer harried the Danish side as it tried to fight back into the game. Spencer typically stars as a forward and in the goal-scoring department, but was instrumental in helping Cincinnati bleed out the clock to win the game Saturday. That kind of versatility is often rewarded.

2. Cincinnati responded positively in a variety of difficult situations throughout the tournament. Whether it was playing down, 2-0, to Reykjavík, or up, 1-0, to NYCFC and then immediately conceding the tying goal – both considerable challenges – Cincinnati responded well in almost every situation. And the positive responses go far beyond the eventual 2-2 draw with Reykjavík and the 2-1 win against NYCFC.

"The main thing in the team that I've tried to reiterate every single day in training is that we have to manage the expectations of where we are in the season, and let's manage the tempo of the game, the challenges of where we are," said Harkes. "It's great to see how certain players are going to respond to that... It was great. We're creating depth. We're letting guys play for each other and sacrifice. Overall it was good. We had some great goals in the tournament."

3. Cincinnati closed out the tournament with a much-needed shutout. By his own admission, Harkes said his team conceded several “silly” goals in the previous two games. This was especially disappointing given Cincinnati hadn’t faced a large quantity of chances, said Harkes. But on Saturday, the team accomplished its main defensive objective.

“The main thing I stressed coming into the game is, ‘we can’t concede anymore silly goals, guys. You’ve got to push hard to make sure we get a clean sheet.’ We kept a clean sheet tonight, so I’m very happy.”

The rest of preseason

For now, Cincinnati isn't scheduled to play another preseason game until March 12 (versus Indy Eleven – time TBA). Harkes said after Saturday's win more preseason games could be added to the team's schedule, but nothing has been confirmed.

In addition to the March 12 game, Cincinnati is scheduled to play Xavier University's men's soccer team March 18.