Marcel Schafer celebrates after getting the final assist of his career./STEVEN MUNCIE
Saturday, 2 a.m.
On a night when the Rowdies said goodbye to a good man, they didn't have enough others for much of the match.
The Rowdies lost Marcel Schafer's final match with the team, falling 2-1 to Penn FC.
Just a few minutes into the second half though, the shimmer started to wear off, Lucky Mkosana scored a quick equalizer just four minutes into the second half.
Then it got worse as Leon Taylor was dismissed from the match with a straight red card, reducing the Rowdies to 10 men for the final forty-plus minutes of the game.
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Leon Taylor with his eyes on the ball./STEVEN MUNCIE
Mkosana scored again in the 67th minute to put his side ahead and the Rowdies never found a way to reply, despite creating more than a few opportunities to do so.
“Once we got a goal we were well in control playing some good stuff,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said. “At halftime, we could probably have been 2-0 up. The second half we didn’t start particularly great and they got their goal. The sending off obviously makes a huge difference.”
The assist was Schafer's 15th since joining the Rowdies last season.
Ivan Magalhaes kicks the ball./STEVEN MUNCIE
“I actually thought after the sending off we played pretty well for five or 10 minutes before their goal,” Collins said. “And then after their goal, we created chances that we should score. The man difference obviously makes it tough and gives them a huge advantage, but we could have still come away with something.”
It was the Rowdies’ first home loss in regulation since April 22 of 2017, but the Rowdies will now regroup before heading to North Carolina next week for a midweek match against the Charlotte Independence.
Tampa Bay will return home on the Fourth of July to host Toronto FC II.
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