Arizona United SC Falls to Surging Real Monarchs SLC, 3-2, In Heartbreaker

Tyler Ruthven and Long Tan find the back of the net for United

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (September, 5, 2015) — Arizona United SC was unable to keep its two-match winning streak going beyond Saturday night after a 3-2 loss to Real Monarchs SLC at Scottsdale Stadium. Both teams entered the game in good form, but it was the Monarchs who maintained possession and controlled the game to their pace.

“We lost our individual battles,” said head coach Dellorusso. “We didn’t cover for each other when we pressed. We made some adjustments at halftime and it got better in the second half, but you can’t give away 45 minutes.”

In the 18th minute, Real defender Phanuel Kavita was in the right place at the right time to blast home a loose ball into the net to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Real stretched its lead to 2-0 when forward Max Rauhofer received the ball, made a turn and shot a strike past the diving goalkeeper.

But United responded before the end of the half. Defender Tyler Ruthven scored a diving header off the boot of midfielder Jose Cuevas to make the score 2-1.

“We were not good enough,” Ruthven said. “We conceded too much possession, we ran ourselves out of the game and we couldn’t catch up. We couldn’t get enough pressure on the ball, and it left us chasing.”

The Monarchs continued pressuring Arizona in the second half, and in the 59th minute midfielder Alec Sundly pushed Real to a 3-1 lead off a corner. United looked to respond and brought the match back within one after forward Long Tan scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 3-2. But the mini comeback wasn’t enough to stop the Monarchs, who have now won four straight matches. United travels to Salt Lake City to play the Monarchs again next Saturday, September 12.

For more information on Arizona United Soccer Club, follow the team on Facebook www.facebook.com/ArizonaUnitedSoccer, Twitter @AZUnitedSC or Instagram @AZUnitedSC.