Ballard FC played a neighborhood friendly against Cultures United FC yesterday, celebrating Pride Night at Interbay Stadium. Above all else, soccer should be a fun and inclusive sport, and Saturday’s match showed that the beautiful game is for everyone. Find out more from our partners at www.culturesunitedfc.com, or by streaming the Cultures United Podcast available through most streaming platforms.
Saturday also recognized the club’s commitment to Common Goal, where the club has pledged 1% of all revenues to sport-based sport-based social initiatives in Seattle and beyond. Ballard FC is the first USL2 club to make the Common Goal commitment, paving the way for more local teams to join the commitment. All donations from last evening went directly to Play Proud, whose mission is to “transform soccer clubs and organizations around the world by equipping coaches and staff with the skills and knowledge to ensure that LGBTQ+ inclusion is championed, on and off the pitch.”
Diving into the action from Saturday, Ballard FC got to it straight away. In just 23 seconds Ballard FC got on the scoresheet as forward Eric Lagos ran onto a flighted ball over the top, broke away from his defender, and slotted it cooly past the Cultures keeper for 1-0.
The action kept pouring on for the Bridges. In the 8th minute, a well-weighted corner from Declan McGlynn found the head of a leaping Kojo Dadzie for 2-0 to Ballard FC.
Five minutes later, Declan McGlynn found the top left corner with a perfectly placed free kick for his first BFC goal of 2023.
Despite being up 3-0 early doors, it was not easy sledding for the Bridges.
Cultures United earned themselves a penalty kick in the 16th minute, with Marcelo Rios dispatching for 3-1. In the 36th minute, Cultures United’s Juan Nuñez notched another back for 3-2.
Game on.
The first-class entertainment continued in the second half, with Ballard FC doing the majority of the attacking. The Bridges seemed to have successfully stymied any momentum Cultures were carrying into the break.
In the 67th minute, Declan McGlynn’s last contribution of the match was a lovely curling finish, looping over the keeper to make it 4-2. McGlynn would later be named man of the match for his three-goal contributions, commemorating another class performance from the midfielder.
To round out the scoring, BFC’s Charlie Holmes’ first minutes for the club were marked with a goal, darting past his defender and slotting it in at the near post to make it 5-2 in the 77th minute.
That was it for this Saturday’s friendly against Cultures United. A special thank you again to the Interbay faithful for joining us on a night that celebrated togetherness on and off the pitch.
Looking to the week ahead, Ballard FC will return to league action on Wednesday, July 12th in a top-of-the-table clash against Capital FC Atletico. Ballard will look to solidify a spot at the top of the USL League 2 Standings in Salem against a playoff-seeking CFC side.
Watch live at Reuben’s Brews or tune into the live stream. Live stream details will be provided on match day.
Ballard FC will return to Interbay stadium a week from today for the season finale on Sunday, July 16th as they take on United PDX at 2:00 PM. Tickets are sold out, but you can catch the match live at Rueben’s or stream it at goballardfc.com.
Photos courtesy of Blake Dahlin
