{"id":46807,"date":"2023-05-18T21:36:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T01:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/?p=46807"},"modified":"2023-05-18T21:36:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T01:36:52","slug":"tampa-bay-rowdies-making-some-noise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2023\/05\/18\/tampa-bay-rowdies-making-some-noise\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Rowdies Making Some Noise Following Slow Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Tampa Bay Rowdies are starting to make some noise. After a slow start to the season, the Rowdies have rattled off three straight victories. They currently find themselves sitting fourth in the USL Championship Eastern Conference, just four points behind the first-place Charleston Battery.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2023\/05\/16\/el-paso-moving-up-usl-standings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">With a lot of eyes on El Paso Locomotive and their seven-game unbeaten run the Rowdies have flown a bit under the radar<\/a>. Make no mistake though, the Rowdies mean business.<\/p>\n<h2>Tampa Rowdies Making Some Noise After a Slow Start<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not our night. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd30 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COYR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#COYR<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CHSvTBR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CHSvTBR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/12Zegz5h6e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/12Zegz5h6e<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tampa Bay Rowdies (@TampaBayRowdies) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TampaBayRowdies\/status\/1639801602247733251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay managed just one win in their opening seven matches. Outside of their 3-0 loss to the Charleston Battery, in which Tampa Bay found themselves down 2-0 by the 11-minute, the Rowdies had been in a lot of hard-fought games ending in draws or tight losses.<\/p>\n<p>Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins knew his team had the talent to compete with anyone, but felt they were being their own worst enemy. Following their 1-0 loss to the San Diego Loyal in April, Collins had the following to say: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rowdiessoccer.com\/news\/2023\/04\/23\/rowdies-edged-out-in-san-diego\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cIt kind of sums up where we are right now, we\u2019re shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit when we\u2019re in important moments in the game.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The loss to San Diego seemed to spark something in the Rowdies\u2019 players. They responded by defeating Detroit City FC in their next match, 1-0. A tightly contested affair where the deadlock was not broken until a Charlie Dennis 79-minute penalty put the Rowdies ahead.<\/p>\n<p>In the following match, Tampa Bay put together a dominant performance against Phoenix Rising FC. Despite having less possession, the Rowdies controlled the match from start to finish, winning 2-0. JJ Williams opened the scoring in the 10th minute and Dennis added a second just before half-time allowing the Rowdies to cruise through the second half to a second straight victory.<\/p>\n<p>Momentum was building as the Rowdies prepared to play Detroit City for the second time in just over two weeks. A first-half JJ Williams hat trick set the tone for Rowdies as they proceeded to deliver a 5-1 thrashing to the team from Detroit. Charlie Dennis added another first-half goal and Dayonn Harris added the fifth just after half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Williams had nothing but praise for his teammates following the resounding victory: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rowdiessoccer.com\/news\/2023\/05\/13\/rowdies-bury-detroit-5-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cHonestly, it was my teammates. I can\u2019t say enough or give them enough praise. Everything they did put me in a good spot to be successful.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Rowdies Look to Stay Hot<\/h3>\n<p>While some may believe Williams was just being humble, his words certainly have truth behind them as things are clicking on all cylinders for Tampa Bay right now. The Rowdies look like a well-oiled machine from back to front. They\u2019ve scored eight goals and conceded just one during their winning streak.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#39;re still not over this move, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlieDennis28?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CharlieDennis28<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mcxmv0kato\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/mcxmv0kato<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tampa Bay Rowdies (@TampaBayRowdies) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TampaBayRowdies\/status\/1658967368612081664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>JJ Williams and Charlie Dennis have been deadly up front, scoring four and three goals respectively. While Williams and Dennis have been the main goal threats, five other Rowdies\u2019 players have contributed goals. They\u2019ve also had eight different players with assists on the season. Tampa Bay is showing that they\u2019re capable of generating scoring opportunities from a multitude of avenues.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, the Rowdies&#8217; defense has seriously improved since the loan signing of Ryan Spaulding from the New England Revolution. Spaulding joined Tampa Bay just before their winning run began and has helped bring stability to the back line. Goalkeeper Connor Sparrow has also performed brilliantly with a number of multi-save performances on the season.<\/p>\n<p>The Rowdies look to continue making noise as they take on Rio Grande Valley FC on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports of a Headshot of JJ Williams and a Headshot of Corey Baird on April 26, 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tampa Bay Rowdies are starting to make some noise. After a slow start to the season, the Rowdies have rattled off three straight victories. They currently find themselves sitting fourth in the USL Championship Eastern Conference, just four points behind the first-place Charleston Battery. With a lot of eyes on El Paso Locomotive and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4450,"featured_media":46816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1196,644,5506,707,627],"class_list":["post-46807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usl","tag-charleston-battery","tag-detroit-city-fc","tag-el-paso-locomotive-fc","tag-phoenix-rising-fc","tag-tampa-bay-rowdies"],"modified_by":"Raheem Bashir, Site Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}