**CHARLOTTE, NC** – Orlando City SC (4-8-6, 18 points) played to a 2-2 draw against Charlotte FC (8-6-5, 29 points) on Wednesday night at Bank of America Stadium, earning a point on the road.
The visiting Lions were bolstered by goals from Facundo Torres and Doug McGuire, with Torres’ goal tying him for sixth all-time on Orlando’s goal list.
In the 12th minute, an error between midfielders Ivan Angulo and Felipe led to Felipe’s attempt to clear a ball being intercepted by Kerwin Vargas, resulting in a 1-0 Charlotte lead.
In the 38th minute, Charlotte’s Scott Arfield was sent off with a red card for misconduct, giving Orlando a man advantage. It was the first time in the 2024 season that Orlando had a man-up advantage.
In the second half, McGuire was able to equalize the score when Luis Muriel sent a cross to the far post where Facundo Torres was waiting. Torres headed the ball back across the six-yard box where a darting McGuire poked it in for the equalizer.
The Lions were caught on the counter-attack by The Crown in the 77th minute when a ball got past the Lions defender, giving Charlotte a two-on-one against Mason Stajduhar. Brandt Bronico chipped the ball in for a 2-1 Charlotte lead.
Facundo Torres came through for the Lions in the 81st minute off of a corner from Nico Lodeiro. Lodeiro sent a lofting ball in from the left past the Charlotte defenders, which Torres sent in with his left foot.
Lions head coach Oscar Pareja shared his thoughts:
“A very rare game in the fact that, too early, we get one extra player and Charlotte found a way to score a second goal in the moment that we were pushing the most for a goal,” said Pareja. “Those circumstances make us feel that getting these results at some point is going to help us. It’s obvious that we wanted and made a lot of efforts to win the game but Charlotte found a second goal and it could have been worse. So, humbly, today we take that point. We wanted more but we have some positive things still that we have to grab there and just move on to the next game.”
Orlando heads home to face the Chicago Fire on Saturday, June 22 at Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando. Game time is 7:30 pm.
