St Louis CITY2 Cruises Past Chicago Fire FC II, 5-0

CITY2 moves to second place in the Western Conference with 24 points

St Louis CITY2 used a full team performance to capture a 5-0 victory over Chicago Fire FC II on Saturday at SeatGeek Stadium. CITY2 is unbeaten in their last five matches, 3-0-2, and just one of two teams in the league without a loss on the road, 3-0-1. 

CITY2 captured eight out of a possible nine points during a three-game stretch over a seven-day span. 

CITY2 collected their fifth clean sheet as defender Kyle Hiebert wore the captain’s armband for the first time this season. Ian McGrane improved to 3-0-1 in net as he recorded his second-straight shutout. Offensively, CITY2 saw five different goal scorers, including Josh Dolling, who moved into a tie for fourth place in the league with six goals. Four different players tallied an assist, including Karson Gibbs, who recorded a two-assist game. 

Off a turnover in Chicago’s defensive third, Gibbs flicked a pass to a charging Sergio Rivas. Rivas took two touches in the box and beat the goalkeeper for the early 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. CITY2 doubled the lead 11 minutes later when Célio Pompeu beat his defender down the far sidelines and dribbled into the box. Pompeu found Josh Dolling in the middle of the box, who then set up AJ Palazzolo at the top of the box. Palazzolo sent a one-timer to the left post for his second career goal. 

Early on in the second half, Gibbs dished to Dolling inside Chicago’s defensive third who dribbled past two defenders and ripped a shot past the goalkeeper to the far upper 90 to raise CITY2’s lead to three, 3-0, in the 51st minute. 

With time winding down, CITY2 found two goals in a span of five minutes to put the match away. Pompeu fought through two defenders and scored CITY2’s fourth goal of the match in the 83rd minute and Ben Di Rosa found himself open inside the box to tally CITY2’s fifth and final goal of the match. 

CITY2 concludes their three-game road trip against archrival Sporting Kansas City 2 on Friday, June 17 at Rock Chalk Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT with coverage on MLSNextPro.com. 

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