July 6, 2022 – United Soccer League One (USL1) – Forward Madison FC News Release
Forward Madison FC took on Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC for the first time in club history on Tuesday, July 5th at 8:00 pm CT. The match resulted in a 2-1 win for Forward Madison, moving FMFC into third place in the USL League One table. Tuesday’s win over Hailstorm kicked off at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The match began slowly with both teams jockeying to control possession from the start. In the 4th minute of his first match starting in the Pink and Blue, goalkeeper Parker Smith made a massive save to keep Northern Colorado off the scoreboard. At the 8th minute mark, Alvin Jones passed the ball down the right wing of the pitch to Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu. The 27-year-old midfielder caught the Hailstorm goalie off guard and rocketed in a goal from way outside of the box to give FMFC an early 1-0 lead. Parker Smith came up huge with another crucial save for the ‘Mingos in the 19th minute when the Hailstorm nearly scored off a free kick.
In the 28th minute, Northern Colorado stole the ball from FMFC and quickly started up the counter attack. Hailstorm’s midfielder Jerry Desdunes launched a shot across the Forward Madison backline and into the net to knot up the score at 1-1. The first half winded down slowly as both teams struggled to try to bring momentum into the half. Luckily for the FMFC faithful, in the 44th minute, Cyrus Rad drove the ball into the Hailstorm defense then passed the ball ahead to Alann Torres. Torres raced forward then fired a speedy shot from outside the box that flew past the Hailstorm goalkeeper. Thanks to Torres’ first professional goal of his career, Forward Madison entered the half with a 2-1 lead.
The second half kicked off with coach Matt Glaeser subbing in Drew Conner for goal scorer Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu. The early sub helped as Forward Madison nearly scored in the 52nd minute thanks to a Mikey Maldonado nutmeg and cross into the Hailstorm box. The next 15 minutes of the match went back and forth as neither team logged any shots besides Forward Madison’s Drew Conner in the 64th minute. Coach Matt Glaeser pumped some fresh legs into his squad in the 72nd minute, when Glaeser subbed on Derek Gebhard and Christian Dean for Alvin Jones and Mikey Maldonado. FMFC’s Parker Smith made another important stop in the 82nd minute when he came out of the box to prevent a Hailstorm one-on-one opportunity. The Flamingos continued to build…