CHICAGO (May 27, 2022) – Chicago Fire FC II earned its first road win of the season, defeating Toronto FC 6-2 at York Lions Stadium on Friday night. Lightning in the area just three minutes into the match caused the game to be delayed more than an hour, but the Fire came back strong after the restart, with forward Josh Penn scoring a first-half hat-trick. 

Chicago opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Penn connected on a pass from Charlie Ostrem for his first goal of the season. Penn added a second goal in the 21st minute. Defender Andre Reynolds III stepped up to play the ball back into the mix after a corner kick was cleared out by Toronto, and the ball fell to Penn in the middle of the box. Penn read the play well, hitting it toward the back of the net with one touch.

Penn returned the favor to Glasgow in the 55th minute, taking the ball up the left side and sending a perfectly weighted pass into the box. Glasgow ran onto it, deftly turning to shake off his defenders and sending the ball past Toronto FC goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh for his second goal of the season. Toronto responded with a dangerous chance one minute later, but the shot was cleared off the line by captain Carlo Ritaccio.

Just three minutes after entering the match, Erik Kocs-Washburn connected with Richard Fleming III to make it 5-0 in the 68th minute. Four minutes later, Matteo Kidd would send in a corner kick that Missael Rodríguez sent past Ranjitsingh to make it 6-0.

Toronto would get on the board via Hugo Mbongue in the 87th minute, followed by a second Toronto goal from Themi Antonoglou in the 90+1st minute. In between goals, in the 89th minute, Chicago was reduced to 10 men after Kendall Burks was sent off for a foul just outside the box.

Chicago Fire II goalkeeper Aaron Katsimpalis made his MLS NEXT Pro debut, registering four saves.

NEXT GAME: Chicago Fire FC II will return to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois next week on Saturday, June 4th to face Columbus Crew II. All MLS NEXT Pro regular season matches will also be streamed live on mlsnextpro.com.

Social: Twitter – @ChicagoFireNext (Hashtags: #ChicagoFireII) | Instagram – @chicagofirenext | Facebook

Box Score:
Chicago Fire FC II 6-2 Toronto FC II

Goals:
CHI – Penn (1) (Ostrem) 13’
CHI – Penn (2) 21’
CHI – Penn (3) (Glasgow) 34’
CHI – Glasgow (2) (Penn) 55’
CHI – Kocs-Washburn (1) 69’
CHI – M. Rodríguez (1) 72’
TOR – Mbongue 87’
TOR – Antonoglou 90+1’

Discipline:
TOR – Coello Camarero (Yellow Card) 37’
CHI – Kidd (Yellow Card) 48’
CHI – Ostrem (Yellow Card) 64’
CHI – Burks (Red Card) 89’

Chicago Fire FC: GK Katsimpalis, D Reynolds II, D Ritaccio, D Quintos (Burks, 75’), D Ostrem, M Oregel Jr., M Fleming III, M Kidd (A. Rodríguez, 75’), F Glasgow (M Monis, 65’), F V. Bezerra (M Kocs-Washburn, 65’), F Penn (F M. Rodríguez, 65’)

Subs not used: D Alvarado, D Baumgartner, 

Toronto FC II: GK Ranjitsingh, D Antonoglou, D Curic, D Franklin, D Pearlman, M Yeates ((Cimermancic, 73’), M Coello Camarero, M Essoussi (Greenidge-Duncan, 46’), F Diaz (Karajovanovic, 65’), F Mbongue, F Altobelli (Goulbourne, 73’)

Subs not used: GK Gavran, D Mawoko, D Medeiros, M Accettola, F Walkes

Stats Summary: CHI / TOR
Shots: 18 / 13
Shots on Goal: 9 / 7
Passing Accuracy: 80.3% / 77.7%
Saves: 5 / 3
Corners: 3 / 4
Fouls: 1 /1
Offsides: 1 / 6
Possession: 56.1% / 43.9%

Referee: Renzo Villanueva
Assistant Referee 1: Travis Maclsaac
Assistant Referee 2: Twayne Anderson
Fourth official: Filip Dujic

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