PREVIEW | Armada Head North of the Border to Face Edmonton in Final Road Fixture Sunday

Armada FC Communications | Oct. 21, 2016

For the second straight season, the Jacksonville Armada FC are headed north for their final road fixture of the year with FC Edmonton. The Eddies will host the Armada at Clarke Stadium Sunday at 4 p.m. in Edmonton, Alberta for only the second time in the two team’s six meetings.

The Armada’s final away match is a long one. 2,703 miles to be exact, the farthest that Jacksonville will have to travel to face any NASL opponent. The trek also comes on the back end of a busy week in which the Armada played three home matches in seven days.

Jacksonville will be looking to take the momentum of their hard-fought 3-2 win over South Florida rivals Miami FC Wednesday into Sunday’s Canadian matchup.

In a thrilling comeback victory, the Armada produced some memorable moments Wednesday, including Charles Eloundou’s goal inside the first minute. The 36 second goal, is the Armada’s fastest goal of 2016 and is only topped by Jemal Johnson’s 12 second stunner over Edmonton in the club’s NASL debut on April 4, 2015.

While Miami stormed back to gain the lead with goals in the 27th and 64th minute, the Armda responded resiliently. Second-half strikes by Alex Dixon in the 69th minute and Lucas Scaglia in the 74th allowed Jacksonville to erase Miami’s lead and earn Mark Lowry his first three points at community First Park.

Heading into Wednesdays contest, Jacksonville had been 0-1-20 all-time when trailing after 60 minutes. Against Miami, who was battling for a final playoff spot, they trailed from the 65th to 69th before launching their impressive comeback.

Before Lowry took over the Armada, the club had not scored five goals in any two game stretch in 2016. After taking over he has managed to accomplish this twice (3-2 loss at Rayo OKC on 9/11/16 and 3-3 draw at Puerto Rico FC on 9/17/16; 2-4 loss vs. New York Cosmos on 10/15/16 and 3-2 win vs. Miami on 10/19/16).

The Eddies return home for their regular season finale against the Armada for the second straight season. Their homecoming comes following a tough two-game road trip with defeats at Minnesota United FC (3-1 on Oct. 15) and at Fort Lauderdale (1-0 on Oct. 12).

Despite the two losses, the Eddies sit comfortably with 50 points, only two points behind Indy Eleven and nine above Minnesota United, in NASL combined standings. The point total places Edmonton in a prime position to take the third seed in the 2016 NASL Championship playoff.

In their last meeting on Sept. 28 at Community First Park, the two teams split the points in a 0-0 draw. Armada held ball possession heavily with a 61.9% edge, but were unable to penetrate a defensively sound Edmonton defense.

Below is a breakdown of each team and the match.

WHEN & WHERE
Sunday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. ET | Clarke Field
Buy Tickets | Weather

THE TEAMS
Jacksonville Armada FC (4W-8D-8L, 20 pts., 12th NASL Fall, 5W-12D-13L, 27 pts.,11th NASL Combined) 
FC Edmonton (9W-6D-5L, 33 pts., 3rd NASL Fall, 14W-8D-8L, 50 pts., 3rd NASL Combined)

SERIES HISTORY
Jacksonville leads, 2-2-1

LAST RESULT
Armada FC 0, FC Edmonton 0 - 9/28/16 in Jacksonville | Recap 

CLUB QUICK LINKS
Armada FC: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats
FC Edmonton: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats

WATCH
- ESPN 3 

READ
- Live Twitter updates on @ArmadaFCgameday - #FCEvJAX
- Live stats on ArmadaFC.com

POTENT NOTABLES

- Under Mark Lowry, the Armada have gone 3W-6D-3L in 12 games. Lowry has recorded the first two away victories in club history since taking over on Aug. 7, taken the team on a five match unbeaten streak, and watched his team score five goals in a two game stretch on two occasions this season.

- The Armada have yet to earn points in a Sunday match this season and only earned a 0W-2D-5L record all time on Sundays.

- Wednesday’s win over Miami FC was the first time ever that Armada have won when trailing after 60 minutes, as well as the first time Armada have won this season when scoring three goals.

- Jacksonville are 3W - 3D - 5L against Canadian opponents all time in NASL competition. 

BY THE NUMBERS

2 – Players under 25 with three or more goals this season, Charles Eloundou (6) and Zach Steinberger (3).

5 – Clean sheets Miguel Gallardo has earned since June 4 this season.

128 – The number of clearances for defender Tyler Ruthven, currently fourth in the NASL.

1216 – Total number of completed passes from Kevan George, currently leading the team.

INJURY WATCH

- Pekka Lagerblom will miss Sunday’s match with a mild hamstring tear that he suffered during the first half of Saturday’s match against the New York Cosmos. The 33-year-old midfielder has made seven starts since returning since with an Achilles injury in the preseason.

CLUB CONNECTIONS

Current Eddie and former Armada FC defender Shawn Nicklaw will face Jacksonville for the second time since being traded on July 6 for midfielder Jason Plumhoff. Nicklaw has started 18 matches so far for the Eddies. He played in 29 league matches for Armada as a fullback, including 21 starts, and notched 10 shots in 1,937 minutes of action and scored the first goal in Community First Park history in the Armada’s 1-0 preseason win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on Feb. 28, 2015.

LOOKING AHEAD

Up next, the Armada returns home to host cross-state rivals the Tampa Bay Rowdies in its season finale at Community First Park on Sunday Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. 2017 Season Ticket renewals are underway. Fans now have until Nov. 4 to renew their season tickets before their seats are released to the general public. To take advantage of the renewal benefits season ticket members can call 1.844.2.ARMADA.