Energy Snaps Losing Streak With Win Over Arizona

Danni König scored his league-high 15th and 16th goals and Gareth Evans added his second goal of the season to lift OKC Energy FC to its first win in eight matches, 3-0 over Arizona United SC Friday night at Taft Stadium.

The two-goal performance was König’s fourth of the season and gave the OKC forward 11 goals in Energy FC’s last 10 games. König’s second goal of the match was the seventh straight goal he’d scored for OKC spanning seven matches.

Evans’s goal was just the second scored by a player other than König since June 13, when Evans netted his first goal of the season in OKC’s 2-0 win over Tulsa. Sebastian Dalgaard had the other in OKC’s 6-2 loss at Louisville on June 27.

OKC goal keeper Evan Newton registered his sixth clean sheet of the season and second in less than a week.

After a conservative first half that ended with the teams in a scoreless tie, Energy FC took a 1-0 lead after Newton send a long goal kick that Kyle Greig headed to König in the Arizona box, where König was hauled down by United’s Edvar Zea and awarded a penalty kick. On the ensuing kick, König blasted a right-footed shot into the upper-left corner of the net, past diving Arizona keeper Carl Woszczynski for a 1-0 OKC lead.

Energy FC extended its lead to 2-0 in the 80th minute, when Casey Townsend sent a free kick from near 40 yards out into the Arizona box, where Michael Thomas headed the ball to König, who headed a shot past Woszczynski from point-blank range. The assist was Thomas’s second of the season and first point since June 20.

In second-half stoppage time, OKC’s lead grew to 3-0 when Evans picked up a loose ball at the top of the arc and fired a shot past Woszczynski.

With the win, Energy FC moved into fourth-place in the USL’s Western Conference at 31 standings points.

Energy FC’s next match is Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 7 p.m., when the club faces LA Galaxy II in a make-up game of the May 9 match that was postponed due to threat of inclement weather. Tickets from the original May 9 date are valid.