Atlanta United 2 Earns Two Points at home against Carolina Core
- Madison Crews
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
Atlanta United 2 secured two points and won their first penalty shootout of the season against Carolina Core at Fifth Third Stadium last night. The result moves Atlanta to seven points on the season in MLS Next Pro.
The Five Stripes would start off strong in the match, and dictate the majority of the action in the first half. They found their first goal of the night in the 18th minute.
In his first professional start for Atlanta united 2, the 16-year-old Gabriel Wesseh chipped a ball to the opposite side of the pitch, connecting with Moises Tablante inside the 18. Tablante cut towards the end line and sliced a shot into the roof of the net from a difficult angle to make it 1-0 for Atlanta.
Carolina found the equalizer in the 29th minute. After winning the second ball from a goal kick, Santiago Cambindo passed to Jacob Evans. Evans found Drake Hadeed and he fired a shot to the bottom-right corner from outside the 18-yard box to beat Jayden Hibbert.
Wesseh would not only get his first ever professional assist and first professional start, but he also found his first professional goal with Atlanta United 2 early in the second half. Ryan Carmichael played a ball to Wesseh on the right. He dribbled inside past a few defenders, and found an opening from outside the 18 to beat Alex Sutton with his left foot to regain the lead.
With only a few minutes remaining in the second half, Carolina Core leveled the match in the 81st minute. On a recycled set piece, Ibrahim Covi dribbled forward and played the ball to Paul Leonardi. Leonardi celebrated his birthday to rip a shot low into the far side netting.
The match finished 2-2 with both teams walking away with a point, but there was an extra point still up for grabs in the MLS Next Pro shootout. In the sixth round, Patrick Weah converted for Atlanta and Hibbert saved Leonardi to earn the bonus point.
Atlanta United 2 is back in action on Sunday at the Northern Kentucky University Soccer Stadium facing FC Cincinnati 2. Our pregame coverage starts at 1:30pm on the SDH Network.