Reserve League: Impact ends season with 2-0 win against D.C. United

Washington, D.C. – Goals by midfielder Calum Mallace and forward Eduardo Sebrango in the second half lifted the Montreal Impact (7-2-1) to a 2-0 shutout win over D.C. United (2-3-1) on Tuesday afternoon, in Reserve League action, at the DCU Training Field, in Washington.

Impact midfielder Calum Mallace opened the scoring in the 58th minute with his second goal in as many games versus D.C. United, both of these goals being game winners. Taking a pass from Josh Gardner who played the ball down the left side, Mallace beat the goalkeeper from just outside the 18-yard box.

Then in the 76th minute, seeing his first game action in almost a month following a shoulder injury, forward Eduardo Sebrango got onto the end of a rebound with his head in the 84th minute to seal the victory.

Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush registered the shutout, a third in a row and fourth of the season in Reserve League action. He finished the season without losing a game. Bush made a key save in the 41st minute when D.C. United’s Yann Ekra fed trialist Dennis Chin, but Bush pushed his effort out for a corner.

With the win, the club’s fifth in a row, the Impact improves on its first place standing in the Reserve League with 22 points. As only two teams remain in the hunt for first place overall, the Impact is forced to wait until the Columbus Crew (18 pts, 8GP) and the Houston Dynamo (16 pts, 7GP) complete their schedules to see if the club takes home the Reserve League title.

Four players of the Impact U21 played in that game: defenders Amine Meftouh and Maxim Tissot as well as midfielders Wandrille Lefevre and Zakaria Messoudi.

Post-game quotes

“It was a tough tight game because the field is a little bit small. We worked hard and created many good chances in the second half,” said Impact assistant coach Mike Sorber. “This was a good first season for us. We were able to give guys important minutes and everyone did well. We got a good look at some of the Academy guys (Impact U21) and fought to be in a good position to win the league.” 

“We played well and we came into the game with a good mentality,” said Josh Gardner. “We knew we had to win to give us a chance to win the Reserve League. The first half was back and forth, but the second half we were able to open them up more and make runs from the backline creating more chances and finally getting some goals.”

Other highlights

D.C. United nearly opened the scoring only 10 minutes into an evenly matched first half, when Maicon Santos shed his marker on a corner kick. The Brazilian striker met Lewis Neal’s service with a powerful header, but the ball sailed just over the Montreal goal.  

Four minutes later, the Impact responded with some set piece danger of their own as Josh Gardner’s long distance blast drew a spectacular tip-save from D.C. goalkeeper Joe Willis.

MLS Regular Season Action

The Impact travels to Chicago to take on the Fire this Sunday, at 8:30pm (ET), at Toyota Park. The game will be broadcast live on TVA sports and will be available on illico web, illico mobile and MLS Live.

The club’s next home game is set for September 22 at Stade Saputo, against Sporting Kansas City at 1pm (ET). Individual tickets for games at Stade Saputo are available via the Admission Network. The Impact and Centraide is organizing a celebrity game that will be played right after the matchup versus Kansas City. More details about this event will be unveiled at a later date.

Lineups

MTL: GK - Evan Bush; D – Zarek Valentin, Karl W. Ouimette, Amine Meftouh*, Dennis Iapichino (Maxim Tissot* 64’) M - Calum Mallace, Wandrille Lefevre*, Josh Gardner, Evan James (Eduardo Sebrango 71’), Sinisa Ubiparipovic (Zakaria Messoudi* 76’); F - Andrew Wenger

Substitute Not Used: GK - Greg Sutton;

*Impact U21 player

D.C. United: Joe Willis; Robbie Russell (Andik Vermansyah** 45), Ethan White, Lars Eckenrode*, Mike Chabala; Lewis Neal, Mechack Jerome**, Raphael Augusto, Yann Ekra**; Long Tan, Maicon Santos (Dennis Chin** 28). 

*Academy player
**Guest player

Goals
MTL – Mallace (Gardner) 58’
MTL – Sebrango 84’

Caution
DC – Chabala 42’