SANDY, Utah (Saturday, March 26, 2016) – Real Monarchs opened the 2016 USL season Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium and the 1-0 victory against St. Louis FC was marred by a 20-minute stoppage when Monarchs MF Omar Holness suffered an apparent seizure on the field. After the first-half delay, the match continued and FW Maikon Orellana scored the 90th-minute winner to give the Monarchs the season-opening victory.
In the 34th minute of the match, Holness suffered an apparent seizure. The match was delayed 20 minutes while medical personnel attended to Holness on the field. He was taken immediately to the hospital for evaluation. Further details will be disclosed when they are available, but initial reports from the hospital indicate that Holness was alert and responsive, while medical testing is ongoing.
After the 20-minute delay, both teams returned to the field and played out the first half.
In the match, the Monarchs outshot St. Louis 5-2, and GK Jeff Attinella was credited with two saves on the half.
However, the first big opportunity of the match didn’t come until the 83rd minute as FW Eti Tavares crossed the ball to FW Devon Sandoval at the edge of the six-yard box, but his header went high.
Finally, the Monarchs netted the match-winner when second-half substitute Orellana hammered in a ball from Sandoval. Real pressed up the left side and Sandoval headed a pass to Orellana streaking down the box and he thumped his shot past St. Louis GK Mark Pais and into the roof of the net for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage in the 90th minute.
The Monarchs held on for the victory, continuing where the club left off to close the 2015 season, when the team had a five-game winning streak to finish the season.
Attinella finished with four saves to earn the shutout.
Real Monarchs had seven players on loan from Real Salt Lake –Attinella, Sandoval, Holness, DF Justen Glad, MF Luke Mulholland and MF John Stertzer started while GK Lalo Fernandez was on the bench.
The Monarchs will host LA Galaxy II on April 2 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
REAL MONARCHS 1-0 ST. LOUIS FC
SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2016
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Monarchs 0 1 1
St. Louis FC 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RM: Maikon Orellana (Devon Sandoval) 90’
Misconduct Summary:
STL: James Musa (Caution; Dissent) 44’
STL: Chad Bond (Caution; Foul) 92+’
Lineups:
Real Monarchs (4-2-3-1): Jeff Attinella; Tyler Arnone (Riley McGovern 88’), Justen Glad, Emilio Orozco, Max Lachowecki; John Stertzer (Colin Rolfe 76’), Luke Mulholland; Omar Holness (Alec Sundly 34’), Amass Amankona (Eti Tavares 65’), Andrew Brody (Maikon Orellana 88’); Devon Sandoval.
Substitutes not used: Lalo Fernandez, Darion Copeland.
St. Louis FC (4-4-2): Mark Pais; Patrick Doody (Sam Fink 89’), Richard Dixon, AJ Cochran, James Musa; Parker Maher, Chad Bond, Charles Renken (Jermie Lynch 73’), Jacob Bushue (Tyler David 78’); Shiloh Tshuma (Irvin Herrera 84’), Jamiel Hardware (Mike Ambersley 78’).
Substitutes not used: Eduardo Cortes, Drew Conner.
Referee: Tyler Ploeger
Assistant Referees: Brandon Major, Kali Smith
Fourth Official: Hamed Sadeghi
Attendance: 2,453
Weather: Cloudy and 46
