Crowd of 3,550 Turns Out for Hickory FC’s Season Finale
By Hickory FC
A historic inaugural season came to an end for Hickory Football Club with a 3-2 loss to the visiting Columbus United FC at the Helen & Leonard Moretz Stadium at Lenoir-Rhyne University. The season finale drew yet another record crowd of 3,550 for Hickory FC.
The opening minutes looked evenly matched with teams trading possession, but Columbus broke through with an early goal from Josiah Fontenot at the 19th minute. Fontenot ran on to a well-placed through ball and was able to push the ball past an attacking Hickory FC keeper Jasper Rump who had been forced to come off of his line to defend the shot.
Hickory was able to even the score late in the first half on a penalty goal from Roger Sanguinetti after Diego Fernandez drew a foul cutting across the penalty area in the 42nd minute.
In second-half play, Columbus once again was first to strike as play approached the one-hour mark, when Devin Vital found himself on the end of a crossing ball played in by Carter Berg and drove the shot past Rump.
Hickory FC refused to back down, and once again evened the score in the 81st minute when Jorge Jimenez commandeered the ball, dribbled across the pitch to midfield, and launched a rocket from 25 yards out that sailed past a diving Matheus Campos in goal.
The tying goal from Jimenez sent the game into extra time, and the game remained deadlocked at two goals apiece after the first 15-minute period. To the dismay of the raucous Hickory crowd, Columbus scored early in the second period of extra time with Bruno Garcia pushing a header past keeper Rump off of a long crossing ball from Rafael Kawata in the 107th minute. The goal would prove to be the game winner as Hickory FC was unable to find any further late game magic.
The loss ends an extraordinary first season for Hickory FC. Columbus United goes on to face West Texas FC in the South Region Final on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Bryce Mitchell/Hickory FC
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