KINGSTON, N.Y. — Kingston Stockade FC rebounded nicely from a rough mid-week domestic cup result to open the 2018 league campaign in style.
After suffering a harsh 6-3 result away at Long Island Rough Riders on May 9 in the U.S. Open Cup, Stockade FC bounced back to top Rhode Island Reds, 3-0, at Dietz Stadium on Saturday in the Hudson Valley club's first match of the 2018 NPSL season.
Stockade opened the scoring in the 4th minute of the match, as midfielder Matt Koziol shrewdly poked a Juan Gatti corner kick home at the back post to give Kingston a lead they would never relinquish.
Shortly thereafter, Koziol doubled Stockade's lead in the 11th minute by converting a penalty kick, which was won by Mike Corbi on the left side of the box.
Corbi then did some well-crafted damage of his own in the 18th minute. After Owen Fingar and Michael Creswick combined for some nice interplay to free up the Stockade attacker, Corbi deftly flicked a header over the Reds' defenders before placing a lovely toe poke just inside the far post to give Stockade a 3-0 lead, which would ultimately prove to be the final result on the day.
From there, Stockade rode some solid defensive work and composed play up top to find their way to an impressive and relatively comfortable opening win of the 2018 campaign.
The official attendance on the day was tabulated at 372 fans. It's worth noting that this figure is people actually making their way through the turnstiles, not the number of tickets sold.
By Randy Kim