CJ Fodrey scored on a header off a corner kick in the 82nd minute to give Austin FC a 2-1 victory over host Sporting Kansas City on Sunday night.
The win was Austin’s first in 13 matches this season after conceding the opening goal.
Owen Wolff scored Austin’s first goal in the 37th minute and assisted Fodrey’s winner. Dejan Joveljic nailed a penalty kick in the 16th minute to give Sporting Kansas City an early advantage.
Austin (11-9-8, 41 points), standing in sixth in the Western Conference, saw SKC (7-16-6, 27 points) control most of the second half before grabbing the late lead.
Sporting Kansas City, 13th in the West, came into the game with 21 goals in the final 30 minutes of matches, third-most in MLS. While they had plenty of opportunities to take a lead, or tie it late, they couldn’t convert.
Austin nearly took a 2-1 lead in the 73rd minute when Fodrey’s header off a cross hit the left post. That sparked Austin’s attack momentarily, until SKC’s Erik Thommy entered the game to replace Shapi Suleymanov in the 76th minute. It was Thommy’s first action since July 4 due to a hip injury.
Sporting had a golden chance in the 79th minute when Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver had to make a diving save of a Daniel Salloi rocket.
Shortly after Stuver’s save, SKC goalie John Pulskamp had to make a diving deflection on the other end on Robert Taylor’s right-footed shot from the center of the box.
That resulted in Austin’s first corner of the match, and Fodrey’s header on Wolff’s cross gave Austin a 2-1 lead.
Sporting grabbed an early advantage after a VAR decision to award a penalty on a foul by Nicolas Dubersarsky, who tripped Suleymanov in the box. Joveljic converted the penalty in the 16th minute when Stuver dove to his right and Joveljic fired it to the lower right corner.
It was the start Austin was trying to avoid. They had lost nine and drew three of the first 12 matches when conceding the first goal of the match.
Austin drew level in the 37th minute. Guilherme Biro launched a pass from 20 yards behind the midfield stripe that Wolff collected beautifully just outside the 18-yard box. He allowed the SKC defense to run past him and then left-footed it past quickly approaching Pulskamp for the tying goal.
SKC had a 12-9 shots advantage, and each squad finished with four shots on goal. Stuver had three saves and Pulskamp made two.
–Field Level Media
