(Patterson, NJ) Brandon Fricke opened the scoring before William Akio’s second-half brace helped Greenville secure all three points in a weather-delayed road contest.
Greenville Triumph FC earned its first road victory of the season Saturday night, defeating the New York Cosmos 3-0 in a composed performance that featured a first-half weather delay and a clinical second-half finish.
The opening stages tested Greenville’s defense early. Goalkeeper Amal Knight came up with back-to-back saves in the 13th and 16th minutes to deny the Cosmos and keep the match scoreless. Four minutes later, Patrick Seagrist delivered a crucial goal-line clearance, preserving the clean sheet after another dangerous New York attack.
Greenville was forced into an early substitution in the 10th minute as William Akio entered the match for Larsen, a move that would ultimately prove decisive.
After Chappa Herrera was shown a yellow card in the 17th minute, the Triumph gradually settled into the match and began creating opportunities of their own. Seagrist sent in a dangerous corner in the 40th minute before play was suspended in the 42nd minute due to inclement weather. Following a 90-minute delay, the teams returned to complete the first half.
The breakthrough came deep into first-half stoppage time. Devin Boyce delivered a well-placed corner that found Brandon Fricke, whose header found the back of the net in the 45+7th minute to send Greenville into the halftime break with a 1-0 advantage.
Coming out of the delay we knew we had an opportunity to reset and make a statement before half, so yes the timing of the goal gave us a good push to get into half, come out again with momentum in our favor and the group took that momentum to finish some chances and put the game strongly in our favor. Overall a strong away performance and we move to on to another big game Wednesday at home.
Greenville continued to control the match after the restart. Lucas Meek replaced Patrick Seagrist, while Ivan Agyaakwah entered for Connor Evans in the 52nd minute.
Despite receiving a yellow card in the 55th minute, William Akio quickly made his mark. Two minutes later, Lucas Meek slipped a pass into the forward, who finished confidently to double Greenville’s lead. In the 64th minute, William Akio struck again, completing his brace and extending the Triumph’s advantage to 3-0. After the match, Akio said, “I been working really hard and I knew I had to step up today for the team. Recently we been in a tough spell, so Godwilling we build off of this and become the squad we all know we can be. All praise to the most high.”
It’s very satisfying because I know we can pick up points on the road, so again we need to build on this win and stay disciplined.
Greenville continued to threaten throughout the final half hour, earning a dangerous free kick outside the penalty area in the 78th minute before making late substitutions in the 85th minute as Jason Bourgey replaced Rodrigo Robles and Daniel Wu entered for Anthony Patti.
Knight and the Greenville back line remained organized through the final whistle to record the club’s second clean sheet of the season and secure a convincing road result.
The 3-0 victory marks Greenville Triumph FC’s first away win of the season, providing an important boost as the club continues its push through the USL League One campaign. Assistant coach Joel Tyson said, “It is great to have your goalkeeper make big saves in games. Amal stood strong for us and gave the guys energy. It is really hard to win on the road in this league. We needed this win after coming off a break. We are excited to get back to GE Vernova in front of our fans and get another 3 pts.”
