FC Fredericksburg Gunners open season with win over Cary

By Mark Bushman for FCFred.com

The FC Fredericksburg Gunners got off to a great start to their 3rd season on Saturday by scoring a late penalty kick and defeating the Cary Clarets 3-2 at Fredericksburg Academy. The penalty was the result of a wild sequence of events.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the 80th minute, a Gunners shot had beaten Clarets goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty, and the ball had seemingly crossed the goaline before being cleared by a Clarets defender. The ball was played straight to one of the Gunners, who fired the shot into what was an open net, but the ball was clearly handled by a Clarets defender. After a brief discussion between the referee and linesman, a penalty was awarded to Fredericksburg, but amazingly, no card was show to the Cary player. The rules state that a clear goal-scoring opportunity denied results in a red card.

Regardless, Gunners Co-Captain Tennant McVea stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the lower right corner of the net, giving the Gunners a 3-2 lead.

Despite being the first game for both teams, the pace of the match was fast and exciting for the fans in attendance. Cary grabbed the lead on a nice goal by Clarets Captain Zack Schilawski, who took a pass from the wing, made a left lateral run across the box, then fired the ball into the lower right corner past \'keeper Ken Manahan.

Fredericksburg got the equalizer just minutes later when a brilliant through ball from Co-Captain Matt Lacey sprung Shaka Bagura on a breakway. Bagura showed great composure in dribbling around Haggerty and putting the ball into the open net.

The Gunners took the lead in the 36th minute after a brilliant free kick by Lacey. He knocked his shot just over the wall in front of him and into the upper right corner, giving the \'keeper no chance at all to make the save.

"I\'ve been practicing all year," said Lacey. "The ball was really flying today and I struck it well. I thought we were dangerous all day on corners and set pieces. I think we\'ll be able to do that all season hopefully!"

The Clarets drew level in the 40th after a line-drive corner was full-volleyed by Cary\'s El-Hadj Cisse. The ball was struck so cleanly that Manahan couldn\'t even react by the time the ball hit the net.

The 2nd half saw numerous chances at both ends before McVea\'s penalty sealed the win.

"We had a bunch of new guys in the back," said McVea after the game. "It\'s going to take a wee bit of time to get the partnership going, but we got the win and at the end of the day, that\'s what counts."

Despite having only two brief training sessions before their first game, Gunners Head Coach Cristian Neagu was pleased with the team\'s overall performance.

"I thought we were a little shaky in the back in the first half, but I was really happy in the 2nd. we were much more organized. We still don\'t have our full roster of players, so this was a great start against a really good team."