Fort Lauderdale CF earned its first home victory of the season at DRV PNK Stadium, claiming a 2-1 win over the Richmond Kickers in a Sunday evening matchup.
Forward Shaan Hundal left his imprint on the match, scoring not once, but twice. Hundal has now strung together three consecutive matches with a goal, registering four total goals on the season, topping USL League One.
Fort Lauderdale made a change to the starting XI, introducing new signing Aimé Mabika. The former University of Kentucky defender and Inter Miami SuperDraft pick marked his professional debut in the match.
The match saw Hundal score an impressive opening goal at the 20-minute mark; Ignacio Poplawski won the ball in midfield and swift passing between George Acosta, Hundal and Venton Evans resulted in a dangerous shot from Evans, drawing a save from the goalkeeper. Hundal was onhand to pounce on the rebound, sliding a shot into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The offensive efforts of the visiting team, however, went on to be rewarded in the 75th minute as Nil Vinyals slipped a shot into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1.
Mere minutes later at the 83-minute mark, late-game heroics by Hundal saw Fort Lauderdale reclaim the lead to make it 2-1; a ball across the face of goal from Acosta found Hundal at the back post, where he calmly took a touch off his chest and fired a shot through the goalkeeper’s legs for his second goal of the match.
Even with an added eight minutes of stoppage time, the team was able to fend off the Richmond Kickers and claim its second victory of the season.
Next up for Fort Lauderdale will be another home match at DRV PNK Stadium versus Union Omaha on Friday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. E.T.
