WINDSOR, Colo. — It was a night for records as Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC took home a wild, 4-2 win over Charlotte Independence Sunday at Future Legends Field.
Hailstorm’s second straight win moved them to 43 points on the season, the highest point total in club history. They have also scored 45 goals this season, another high water mark in the history of the club.
The story of the night, however, was Hailstorm forward Trevor Amann. Amann started the scoring on the night in the sixth minute with his 19th goal of the season, setting a new USL League One single season record.
“I struggled with my finishing last year so maybe for some people it’s sort of unexpected,” Amann said. “But I had the belief that I could do it if I continued to put myself in good spots and let my teammates find me.”
Amann scored just five goals during the 2022 season, three of which came a year ago to the day of his record breaker with a hat trick against North Carolina FC.
“At the start of the year, I said ‘Ah, he’ll get double figures, after that I don’t know,'” Hailstorm FC head coach Éamon Zayed said. “He’s flying, confident, he’s improved not just his finishing, his hold up play is better, he’s a nuisance.”
Amann’s goal stood as the only tally of the game until a wild period in the second half that saw each team score a pair of goals in a span of just 17 minutes.
Charlotte midfielder Gabriel Obertan started the goal flurry in the 62nd minute to level the score, but Hailstorm took the lead again when Charlotte goalkeeper Austin Pack spilled a corner into his own net to give Northern Colorado a 2-1 lead.
The 2-1 lead for Hailstorm held on for 12 minutes until Charlotte forward Khori Bennett slotted home a penalty to level the match at 2-2. However, Hailstorm answered again just two minutes later, this time with Noah Powder scoring a screamer from outside the box for the winner and his first goal for the club.
“I looked over my shoulder and no one was behind me, and you really shouldn’t give me that much space,” Powder said.
Hailstorm capped the scoring late on, with Marky Hernández scoring a 96th minute goal that turned out to be the last kick of the match.
“After going 12 unbeaten, we lost to North Carolina, lost to Charlotte, lost to Lexington. Now we redeemed ourselves against North Carolina last week, against Charlotte tonight, and we have a chance to redeem ourselves against Lexington on Wednesday,” Zayed said.
Wednesday’s match against Lexington SC kicks off at 7 p.m. at Future Legends Field, and tickets are available at hailstormfc.com.
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The 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.