A second half goal from midfielder Ernie Marquez drew the Northern Virginia Royals even with the Fredericksburg Gunners last Thursday at Hellwig memorial park in Manassas, Virginia. Two days later, a weary Royals squad dropped a 3-1 decision to the visiting Carolina Dynamo to fall to 1-6-4 on the season.

 

Fredericksburg jumped to the early lead in the 36th minute as the result of an opportunistic foul just outside the right corner of the penalty box. Reliable Gunner Matt Lacey punched his free kick inside the near post of the Royal goal for the 1-0 Fredericksburg advantage.

 

Northern Virginia returned from the half time break with a renewed energy and sense of purpose. The Royal offense reaped their reward two minutes later when forward Dave Atkinson found Marquez in the Fredericksburg goal mouth and fed him a low, driving cross. Marquez fired true, zipping the ball past Gunner keeper Patrick Mikrovich untouched into the net to even the score.

After nearly eleven months, the Northern Virginia Royals finally experienced the elation of being on the better side of the scoreboard at the final whistle. An opportunistic offense, combined with stellar goalkeeping from Royal Sean Kelley, earned the home side the long-awaited 3-0 result over the West Virginia Chaos on Sunday evening at Hellwig Memorial Park in Manassas, Virginia.

 

West Virginia, fresh off a 3-1 victory over Fredericksburg the previous evening, seemed eager to get at the Royals defense early. Chaos forward Adam Arthur broke through the Royals defense at the 20 minute mark and blasted a low shot towards the Northern Virginia net. Northern Virginia keeper Kelley sprung across the goal mouth and nimbly touched the shot wide, earning the first of his nine saves on the night.

 

Six minutes later, Northern Virginia midfielder Ernie Marquez broke free on the West Virginia endline as the result of some nifty footwork and slotted the ball back into the Chaos goal area. Royal forward Dave Atkinson’s one-timed shot from ten yards out skipped once on the turf before striking the West Virginia net for the 1-0 advantage.

 

The Northern Virginia Royals faltered Saturday night, falling 3-1 on the road to the Carolina Dynamo at McPherson Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina. Yu Hoshide scored in the closing minutes to deny the shutout and give Northern Virginia it’s only bright spot for the night.

 

The Royals and Dynamo have maintained a fairly heated rivalry over the last decade as demonstrated in a match that turned overly physical at times.   The Royals spent the first half containing the Carolina attack and managed a few counters into Dynamo territory. Dynamo midfielder Erfan Imani came off the bench after an injury to Daniel Roberts and scored the only goal in the first half, giving the Dynamo the lead at the 33-minute mark.

 

“We wanted to try to get them (Dynamo reserves) all in different spots,” Carolina coach Joe Brown said of his substitution plan. “For Erfan’s situation I wanted to see him behind the forwards sooner or later. Obviously the situation called for that and I thought he did a good job.”