Playing for the first time within the city limits, Atlantic City FC was forced to play nearly an hour down a man but still managed a 1-1 draw with Virginia amateur club Motorik FC on Saturday night.
The home side came out strong on the artificial surface they train on at Chelsea Heights Recreation Complex. Controlling most of the possession, it took the Aces only eight minutes to open the scoring when Alex Nicol hit a shot that bounced off the crossbar and fell right to Ryan Morris for the easy tap-in.
“I was just lucky enough to be right place right time to put one away,” Morris said. “Unlucky to not get one or two more. I think if we were even the whole game we would have had a better result.”
The Aces continued to control possession after the goal, but struggled to finish their chances, hitting woodwork a couple times.
“We controlled the game, we had chances to make it two, three or four,” head coach Kristian O’Leary said. “Ultimately, over the season that’s what’s cost us.”
Four of the Aces five losses in their inaugural NPSL season have come by a 1-0 scoreline. A 1-0 loss on the road at West Chester United last Saturday knocked the team out of playoff contention, win or lose in their final game at home against Torch FC next Saturday.
Though it didn’t necessarily show in the possession stats, Joseph Dikmak’s sending off in the 34th minute certainly had an impact on the offense. Dikmak, who plays at nearby Stockton University, received two quick yellows and was sent off after Motorik’s first clear scoring opportunity. On the play, he collided with C. Mahadi just outside the 18 after captain Liam Hogan sent a dangerous looping ball in. The play initially was allowed to continue but a foul and a second yellow was later assessed after the referee consulted with the linesman.
Motorik nearly equalized on the free kick, but Mahadi’s strike hit the crossbar after getting over the wall and the rebound was sent out of bounds for a goal kick by a teammate.
O’Leary said he was happy with the way his team, which was featuring a number of players who haven’t played much this season, responded to going down a man.
“I was pleased with the way they kept the ball,” said O’Leary, the former U-21 coach for Swansea City. “They played the way I wanted them to play.”
Atlantic City continued to push forward and move the ball well despite being down a man, but were unable to find the final ball the rest of the way even after subbing in a couple attacking players with plenty of experience in former Orlando City forward Sidney Rivera and former USMNT player and club technical director Jeremiah White.
The visitors got their equalizer on a long free kick by Agie Spain in the 78th minute. Spain was so thrilled to see his shot hit the back of the net he ran to the sideline to celebrate the goal, which gave the visitors from Virginia a share of the spoils.
Saturday’s game was the first meeting between the two teams and was also the first game Atlantic City FC played within the city limits, the casino skyline visible in the background and a strong breeze blowing on a hot evening. The match was set up a few months ago when Motorik reached out to the NPSL newcomers, which were officially unveiled in December. Since the team hasn’t joined a league yet, they’ve set up friendlies against other amateur teams.
The two teams have a similar social media presence and also share a kit maker.
“It’s good to see that there’s other organizations in U.S. soccer within the landscape that are doing things like Atlantic City FC,” Hogan said. “It’s definitely inspiring to see what they’ve been able to put together and the resources they have here.”
Atlantic City co-owner Andrew Weilgus said that since the team has been playing league games 15 miles away from the city at Stockton University it was important to have one game in the inaugural season in the city.
“Playing at Stockton University has been amazing and we love the facilities there,” Weilgus said. “This at least puts something in Atlantic City and brings it to the community.”
