WINDSOR, Colo. — Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC opened Future Legends Field in style and took a strong lead in the Ice & Fire Cup with a 4-1 win over Central Valley Fuego FC in front of 1,137 fans.
“We didn’t win a home opener last year,” Hailstorm FC head coach Éamon Zayed said. “We lost two and drew one, so it was good to break that duck.”
Both teams had chances early, with Hailstorm’s best opportunity coming when forward Trevor Amann’s shot cannoned off the post. Hailstorm keeper Lalo Delgado kept the game scoreless with a fantastic reflex save in the ninth minute.
Hailstorm got on the board in the 23rd minute when Jackson Dietrich got on the end of a Billy King cross and put home his first league goal of the season and the club’s first goal at Future Legends Field.
“I was thinking about it the whole day, hoping I could be the first one to score,” Dietrich said.
King then got on the board himself, doubling his team’s lead in the 32nd minute by pouncing on a rebound and slotting it past Fuego keeper Mitchell North.
Hailstorm all but secured the points in the 39th minute when King was brought down in the box by Fuego midfielder Adrian Vera. Amann converted the resulting penalty for his sixth goal in four games, bringing him into a tie at the top of the USL League One goal scoring chart with North Carolina’s Rafa Mentzingen.
Amann surpassed Mentzingen as the league’s leading scorer just before halftime, getting on the end of Lucky Opara’s cross for his third brace in four games. The goal also gave Northern Colorado a 4-0 lead at halftime.
“I’m just confident,” Amann said. “I’m a striker in form at the moment, pretty much everything I shoot goes in.”
In addition to moving to the top of the Golden Boot race, Amann is now Hailstorm’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing teammate Irvin Parra.
“Irvin’s probably dying to get back and try to catch him again,” Zayed said. “Trevor’s on fire. He’s at seven goals in seven.”
Fuego got a consolation goal in the 88th minute as Villyan Bijev scored a penalty to deny Delgado a clean sheet.
Hailstorm now head on the road to face Lexington SC at 5 p.m. Mountain time on June 3.
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The future home of Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC, 118-acre Future Legends Complex, will feature 6,500-seat TicketSmarter Stadium, 2,500-seat Future Legends Field, multiple baseball diamonds, multi-purpose fields, an indoor sports arena, lodging, and retail; and will host guests for major sports leagues, tournaments, events and more.
More information is available at HailstormFC.com and FutureLegendsComplex.com.