Steel, Royals win

Led by a strong offensive showing, Bethlehem Steel FC picked up its first victory of the season, defeating the Richmond Kickers, 4-1, in the club’s home opener at Goodman Stadium.

Playing on the campus of Lehigh University, Steel FC saw Philadelphia Union midfielders Derrick Jones and Eric Ayuk score first-half goals while forward Brandon Allen tallied a second-half brace in his Steel FC debut.

“Happy that we were so balanced in that performance, I can’t think of one guy that didn’t perform at or close to his peak level of performance,” Bethlehem Steel FC head coach Brendan Burke said. “Have to walk away happy that this is a really good building block that we laid down today but we understand that we are going to see extremely stiff competition over the next three to five weeks with Tampa and Nashville and others coming through town.”

Steel FC came out establishing their high press early in the contest, pinning the Kickers inside their defensive third for the match’s 20 minutes. The high-intensity paid off in the 24th minute, as Marcus Epps forced a Richmond turnover. After a pattern of passes throughout the midfield, right back Matthew Mahoney sent into the box a cross that was tipped by Kickers’ goalkeeper Travis Worra but directly to Ayuk who tapped it home for Steel FC’s first goal of 2018.

Sixteen minutes later, Steel FC doubled its lead on a thrilling run by the club’s first ever signing from 2016. Collecting a pass from Epps in the midfield, Jones beat four Richmond defenders throughout a 35-yard run before inside the far post.

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The Reading Royals soared to a 5-1 win over the Brampton Beast on Yannick Tifu Retirement Night Saturday at Santander Arena (see photo above). Reading retired the former Captain’s number in a pregame ceremony. After allowing the first tally, Reading poured in three in the first, one in the second and an empty-netter in the third. Anthony Stolarz made 31 saves (1 GA) and earned his first win of the season. Stolarz played in seven games with the Flyers last season. 5,163 fans packed Santander Arena.