Arizona United Gets Much Needed Victory on the Road

Arizona United SC came a way with a 2-1 victory in a road game played against the Orange County Blues in Irvine, Calif., this past Saturday.

Arizona United, with the newly added attack threat of Chinese-national player Long Tan, was able to pressure and threaten the Blues often during the game.

Arizona struck first in the game and scored during the 37th minute with excellent movement with the ball on a series of passes from Tan to Daniel Antunez to Schillo Tshuma and ultimately to Brad Stisser.  Stisser scored directly on the volley on a crossing pass from Schillo and beat Blue goal keeper Patrick McLain, who had no opportunity to stop the goal during the 37th minute.

It was Stisser’s first goal in his first start with the team. Prior to Saturday’s game, Stisser had played very sparingly for United.

Arizona United’s Brad Stisser, seen here heading the ball away from two Rochester Rhino players, scored the first goal for Arizona United in their 2-1 victory over the Orange County Blue last Saturday. 

The game went to halftime with United leading 1-0.

The next goal was not scored until the 74th minute when substitute Jon Okafor was able to score on a header following a Scott Morrison corner kick which was actually Arizona United’s first corner kick of the game.

Orange Count was able to counter with a goal of its own just three minutes later; however, United was able to hold on for the much needed win.

The victory moved United out of the USL PRO standings cellar and the team now has 16 points. Two points shy of where they would be had the team not been handed a two-point penalty following a player eligibility issue earlier in the season.

Nevertheless, the victory and the team’s performance during the Orange County game showed signs of life in the team that has suffered from frustrating draws and losses.

The team will play one more game on the road this Thursday against Energy FC of Oklahoma City and return home to play the OC Blues in a game at Peoria Sports Complex this Saturday. Game time has been moved to 7:30 p.m. and plenty of seats are available.