Jacksonville Armada FC U-23 Lift The Gulf Coast Conference Shield

Saturday, the Jacksonville Armada FC U-23 hosted AFC Mobile at Jangro Stadium. This was the fourth all-time meeting between the two clubs, and the Armada’s eleventh match of the 2022 NPSL season.

The weather was not cooperative for the start of the match but after a one hour delay, the game was ready to kickoff.

Early in the match, Jacksonville’s attackers pressed the Mobile defense to try and cause a mistake from their backline.

The Armada were not short of goal scoring opportunities, as Reed Davis would have two of his shots rattle off the crossbar in the first half.

In the 42nd minute, Jacksonville won a freekick on the edge of the area. Centerback, Ethan Dudley, stepped up to the spot of the foul and fired a low shot into the back of the net putting the Armada ahead 1-0. This would be Dudley’s second goal of the season both coming off of freekicks.

At the end of the half the Jacksonville Armada went into the locker room ahead by a goal, hoping the weather would uphold the rest of the night.

In the 59th minute an AFC Mobile attacker would receive a through ball in on goal, and take the ball around the goalkeeper. The subsequent shot would be saved off the goal line by an oncoming Ethan Dudley.

Just four minutes after the goal line clearance, Mobile would be awarded back to back corner kicks. Both chances were saved by the acrobatic efforts of goalkeeper Dominic Dominguez to keep the Armada up 1-0.

Both teams received yellow cards before the game concluded, and the Armada FC U-23 would hold onto the win. The victory marked the Armada’s tenth win in a row, and extended their unbeaten streak to eleven games. With Saturday’s win, Jacksonville Armada FC would also clinch the 2022 Gulf Coast Conference Shield.

Head Coach Tommy Krizanovic expressed his excitement for his players saying, “Great result for us tonight in securing the regular season shield and continuing to stay atop the league overall. Mobile certainly made it hard for us as we had encountered a defensive line unlike we had before. Luckily we found a way to break through in the first half and were in a better state momentum wise. We needed to find a way to win in the end and again players stepped up when needed the most. This group is special and if we can stay injury free and everyone together, there’s no telling how far we can go.”

The Armada FC U-23’s final regular season game will be played this Saturday July 9th, when they make the trek over to Hattiesburg Mississippi to battle with second place Southern States SC at 8pm EST.

The Jacksonville Armada’s next home game, and first playoff match, will be held July 13th at 7pm EST at Jangro Stadium. Jacksonville’s opponents are still to be determined, and FREE tickets will be available through Eventbrite once the regular season is decided.