Jay Nolly kept a clean sheet for 90 minutes and D.C. United concluded the team's stay in Bradenton, Fla., with a scoreless draw against the Kansas City Wizards Sunday on the campus of IMG Academies. On a windy and chilly day, United head coach Tom Soehn put a majority of his club's first 11 through paces for a half-hour, before turning the game over to his reserve core.
"Today was a chance to give some minutes to our reserve guys," said Soehn. "The first team found their feet after a bit and showed flashes of good stuff. Though I was disappointed with the soccer today, this was a training exercise for us and our focus is on Wednesday."
United nearly struck 10 minutes in when a poor pass in Kansas City's defense sent Jaime Moreno in uncontested. Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman met Moreno and the ball at the top of his box, sending a rebound directly to Justin Moose. Moose took a touch and sent a driven ball towards an empty net only to strike Moreno en route.
Minutes later, Clyde Simms located Josh Gros on the left flank. The midfielder sent a quality cross to Ben Olsen, but his chip passed just outside of frame. Forty minutes in, creative interplay between Stephen deRoux and Rod Dyachenko opened space at the top of the box for Jamil Walker. His right-footed shot forced a diving save by Chris Konopka.
Nolly took over the spotlight from there. In the 65th minute, the newly-signed goalkeeper kept the game scoreless with a reflex save on a Ryan Pore blast. Nolly's save led to an opportunity on the other end of the field as deRoux's flank run and quality cross found Guy-Roland Kpene for an open header that passed just over the cross bar. Nolly finished the match touching a sneaky near-post bid wide and snaring a quality far-post cross on the goal line.
NOTES
Sunday's lineup included: Jay Nolly; Facundo Erpen (David Stokes-31), Bobby Boswell (Devon McTavish-31), Bryan Namoff (John Wilson-31); Ben Olsen (Kasali Casal-31), Brian Carroll (Jeff Carroll-31), Clyde Simms (Brian Arguez-31), Justin Moose, Josh Gros (Stephe deRoux-31); Jaime Moreno (Rod Dyachenko-31), Jamil Walker (Guy-Roland Kpene-46).
Luciano Emilio, Christian Gomez, Ryan McIntosh, Domenic Mediate and Troy Perkins rested and did not participate in the scrimmage.
Trials for Matt Nelson and David Stokes have ended without either being offered a contract. Draftee Ricky Schramm was also informed that he would not be tendered an offer.
With the completion of Sunday's scrimmage, United's stay in Bradenton has ended. The Black-and-Red will travel 18 players to Honduras for the club's CONCACAF Champions' Cup fixture against CD Olimpia. That group will bus to Miami Sunday afternoon before flying to Tegucigalpa Monday. The remainder of United's roster, including draftee Shawn Crowe, will return to Washington, training at Velocity Sports Performance until the first team returns to the Nation's Capital.
