"I was a little bit tired," said Allen, who signed with the Red Bulls as a Homegrown Player, "but I knew in the second
half they were going to break down and towards the end of the second half chances started to come, and that's how I got an extra two goals. That's how the chances to come, when they started to break
down. There were a lot of gaps in their back four, and that's how we created chances."
USL Champions:
2011:
Orlando City
2012: Charleston
2013: Orlando City
2014: Sac Republic FC
2015: Rochester
2016: NY Red Bulls II
Haitian
international Derrick Etienne Jr., who left Virginia after his freshman year to sign a Homegrown contract with the Red Bulls, opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a shot just inside the
right post from 19 yards.
Allen then scored the first of three straight goals for the Red Bulls, slotting home a David Najem cross deflected by Swope Park's defense. After Swope
Park midfielder Tomas Granitto scored on a free kick to cut Red Bulls II lead to 2-1, Allen scored twice in three minutes to make it 4-1. Frenchman Vincent Bezecourt finished off the
scoring in stoppage time.
"Anytime you're up two and you give up one," said Red Bulls II coach John Wolyniec, "there's a moment of uneasiness, but that's probably
one of the proudest moments I have of this season. In a tough situation where it would have been easy to get a little tight and be concerned, our guys were aggressive and proactive and went after the
game in a way that said we're not giving this away."
Most of the players on Red Bulls II are former college players, but they included two 17-year-old starters -- Kevin
O'Toole and Tyler Adams -- from their academy program.
Oct. 23 in Harrison, N.J.
NY Red Bulls 5 Swope Park 2. Goals: Etienne (Allen) 18, Allen (Najem) 39, Allen 85, Allen (Bonomo) 88, Bezecourt
(Etienne) 90+2; Granitto 74.
NY Red Bulls -- Meara; O'Toole (Plewa, 66), Long, Carroll, Najem; Metzger, Adams, Bezecourt; Etienne (Mines 90+), Allen (Schmoll 89), Valot (Bonomo 81).
Swope Park -- Zendejas; Alvarado, Ballo, Didic, Grant (Barrett); Duke (Molano 89), Appiah (Granitto 46), Ayrton (Gonzalez 61); Pasher, Kelly, Tyrpak.
Att.: 5,574.