Voltage Fall to Fury

Vermont midfielder Etienne Boulanger scored in the 87th minute, but it would prove nothing more than a consolation goal as the Voltage fell 3-1 to the Ottawa Fury in Ottawa on Wednesday night.

Ottawa (5-1-1, 16 points), who scored first in the 34th minute through Carlo Basso, then added goals through Will Beauge and Robert Murphy in the second half, moved into first in the USL PDL Northeast Division with the win. Vermont (0-6-2, 2 points) remains winless on the season and stays rooted to the bottom of the eight-team Northeast Division.

(Highlights Courtesy Ottawa Fury)

Defender Ashley Walker nearly opened the scoring for Vermont, getting the ball after a nice build-up on a short corner. Walker, an England native who formerly played for Stratford Town – a club in the ninth level of the English soccer pyramid, volleyed a bouncing shot a frame to the near post, but Ottawa goalkeeper Alexander Fait got down to make the save, one of his three on the night.

Basso had two chances around the half hour mark, finishing the second to put the Fury on the board. First Basso intercepted an ill-advised back pass by the Voltage to power a shot on frame from outside the box. Goalkeeper Ryan Brooks-Newton was there to make that save – one of his six in the match – but couldn’t stop Basso’s next effort in the 34th minute.

After getting on the end of a lobbed through ball from Anthony DiBiase, Basso chipped a shot over an onrushing Brooks-Newton to put the Fury up 1-0. It was Basso’s fourth goal of the season.

The Fury kept up the pressure from there with Basso forcing Brooks-Newton into two more saves before Beauge doubled the lead in the 73rd minute. Beauge rose above his defender to get on the end of a Tom Beattie corner kick and head in his fourth goal of the year from close range to make it 2-0. Brooks-Newton may have taken a hit from Basso on the goal as he tried to get to the ball.

Ottawa then put the game out of reach in the 85th minute with two substitutes combining for the goal. Sameth Al-Basith blasted a long ball from his own half that Robert Murphy ran onto behind the defense and entered the box before blasting a shot past Brooks-Newton to the far post put the Fury up 3-0 with his first goal of the season.

The Voltage would finally find the net in the 87th minute through Boulanger. Style points count for nothing, but on what may have been the prettiest goal of the night, a great passing sequence from the Voltage ended when Paul Bianchi found Boulanger with a perfectly placed cross and Boulanger sent a looping header over Fait to make the score 3-1. For Boulanger, a former Fury player who plays his college soccer at UNC-Wilmington, it was his first goal of the season.

It was too little, too late for the Voltage, however, as the Fury would hold on from there to take the 3-1 lead.

The Voltage, still searching for their first win, returns to action on Saturday, traveling to Portsmouth, N.H., to face the second place Seacoast United Phantoms at 7 p.m.