Oakland was behind within two minutes on the road as Paul Blanchette’s giveaway at the back gave Greg Hurst the opportunity to give the home side the 1-0 advantage. Hurst chipped Blanchette to give New Mexico United the lead.
New Mexico continued to pressure Oakland, forcing Blanchette into multiple saves to keep the score at 1-0.
The home side went into the locker room for the halftime break with just the one-goal advantage despite having two-thirds of the possession.
Oakland got on the scoresheet almost immediately in the second half as Neveal Hackshaw had his deflected shot trickle into the New Mexico goal, leveling the game at 1-1.
Oakland’s captain Neveal Hackshaw would concede a free kick with less than 20 minutes to go, which ultimately resulted in a goal for Mukwelle Akale, who beat Blanchette to restore the one-goal lead for New Mexico at 2-1.
Roots battled to the final whistle, using all their substitutions, but were unable to find the equalizer as they left Albuquerque with no points following the 2-1 loss.
Roots now return to the East Bay to host Orange County SC on Saturday, May 18th at Cal State University, East Bay.
Oakland Roots SC vs New Mexico United
USL Championship | May 11, 2024
Venue: Isotopes Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Kickoff: 6:00 PM PT
Weather: 62 degrees, cloudy
SCORELINE:
NM: 2
OAK: 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
NM: Greg Hurst 2’
OAK: Neveal Hackshaw 47’
NM: Mukwelle Akale 74’’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
NM: Abdi Mohamed (yellow card) 28’
NM: Talen Maples (yellow card) 45+’
OAK: Neveal Hackshaw (yellow card) 73’
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Paul Blanchette, Baboucarr Njie, Niall Logue, Camden Riley, Memo Diaz, Neveal Hackshaw (Napo Matsoso), Daniel Gomez (Lindo Mfeka), Irakoze Donasiyano (Miche-Naider Chéry), Etsgar Cruz (Jeciel Cedeño), Trayvone Reid (Justin Rasmussen), Johnny Rodriguez
Unused subs: Gagi Margvelashvili, Timothy Syrel
Shots: 9 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 4 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 5 |
NEW MEXICO UNITED LINEUP: Alex Tamakis, Anthony Herbert, Sergio Rivas (Mukwelle Akale), Nicky Hernandez, Marco Micaletto (Nanan Houssou), Talen Maples, Arturo Astorga (Chris Gloster), Greg Hurst (Daniel Bruce), Zico Bailey, Kalen Reyes, Abdi Mohamed
Unused subs: Kris Shakes, Avionne Flanagan, Nanan Houssou, Dayonn Harris, Jackson Dubois
Shots: 11 | Shots On Goal: 5 | Corner Kicks: 6 | Fouls: 13 | Offside: 2 |