NEWPORT NEWS — Lionsbridge FC delivered a dominant performance in its home opener Sunday night, defeating the Virginia Marauders 4-0 in front of a big crowd at TowneBank Stadium.
Felix Ewald opened the scoring in the 6th minute, heading in a flicked pass from Damean Dominguez to give Lionsbridge an early 1-0 lead — and send the crowd home with free Chick-fil-A. The goal stood as the lone tally through halftime, with goalkeeper Toby Mawer making a leaping save in the 23rd minute to deny the Marauders’ first shot of the night.
Lionsbridge pulled away after the break with three second-half goals. Ricky Louis doubled the lead in the 67th minute on an assist from Constantinos Christou. Denis Krioutchenkov added a third in the 75th minute off a feed from Andrew Bennett, and Tre Barrett capped the night in the 86th minute, finishing a pass from Christian Hatley.
Lionsbridge outshot the Marauders 26-4 and earned six corners to the visitors’ three. Mawer finished with two saves, while the Marauders’ goalkeeper recorded six. The visitors were shown three yellow cards, including one for a foul on Krioutchenkov just outside the box in the 8th minute.
With the win, Lionsbridge moves to 1-0-1 in league play, tied for first place in the Chesapeake Division. The team travels to Patuxent on Wednesday before returning home to face Greenville United next Sunday at TowneBank Stadium.
