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Rangers Cruise To Victory Behind A Shut-Out And Three Goals

By Trent Eskola, 06/14/21, 6:45AM CDT

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It was the return home necessary for the Little Rock Rangers after their late night away match against Mississippi Brilla on June 9. The Stags were met by nearly 3,000 fans in War Memorial Stadium as Round Rock SC came to town. The Rangers overcame Round Rock away in a 1-0 victory on June 6 and were hoping to replicate the victory. It was a comfortable 3-0 win for the hosts this time around as Spencer Barber scored two goals and Marvin Mosquera scored his first in a Rangers uniform from the penalty spot.

The match started slow with no real chance coming until Spencer Barber nicked the ball off a Round Rock defender and started a counter-attack. Shuto Yoneno found the ball at his feet and began sprinting at the back-line for Round Rock with Barber on his left and Quintero to his right. Yoneno played an easy ball for Barber to run on to and with the outside of his right foot, Barber hit it just powerful enough to get past the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.

Barber continued to cause problems for the Round Rock defense when he took the ball down the right flank, making multiple defenders miss before being taken down inside the penalty area, earning the Rangers their fourth penalty kick of the season, only converting one of the last three. Marvin Mosquera stepped up to take the penalty and with the short run up, Mosquera hit the ball high and into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 for the Rangers.

Spencer Barber added to the Rangers lead in the 80th minute when Esteban Gonzalez played a high cross from a corner kick into the area. The ball was headed back toward goal by Carlos Beltran which met the crossbar and fell right to the head of Barber who with ease, headed the ball into the corner to make it 3-0. As the stadium filled with smoke from the Red Watch and the shouts and cheers from fans, the Stags were able to hold on for the first home clean sheet of the season.

The win pushes the Rangers into fifth place in the league, just five points from the top and one point from second place.

The Stags return to action on Saturday, June 19th as they travel to Corpus Christi with kickoff set for 7 P.M. before returning home for a two game stint against AHFC Royals on Tuesday June 22nd and Brazos Valley Calvary FC on Saturday June 26th, both matches are 7 P.M. kickoff.