Game Preview: Lakeland Tropics host The Villages SC at historic Bryant Stadium Saturday night

LAKELAND – A new era in Polk County sports “kicks off” Saturday night at historic Bryant Stadium as the USL Premier Development League Lakeland Tropics host the southeast division defending champions Villages SC in a 7:35 start.

Both teams come into the game 0-1 in PDL play, although the Buffalo has actually played twice in the past couple of weeks.

Lakeland fell 4-0 on the road May 11 at Miami City FC, despite a stellar performance from netminder Jonathan Valerio, who kept the game scoreless at intermission. Down 1-0 in the second half, Tropics midfielder Victor Rojas had his team's best scoring chance from about 10 yards out, but just missed converting. Pressing for the tying goal, the Tropics gave up several scoring chances which Miami converted late.

The Villages fell 2-1 to the Jacksonville Armada U23 team in the opening round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in a May 10 matchup, and opened their PDL season with a 2-1 loss against one of the 2017 division favorites, the SIMA Aguilas.

The Buffalo's  Erickson Alves actually gave The Villages SC a 1-0 lead against Jacksonville in the first minute of the game, but they gave up the game winner in the 89th minute.

Daniel Mendes, who played in the second half of the season with the Florida Tropics, got The Villages SC on the board in the 32nd minute, but again a second half goal was the difference in the Buffalo defeat.

The Tropics are led by the offensive trio of Ricardo Diegues, Victor Parreiras and Rojas, all standouts on Lakeland's sister franchise, the Florida Tropics of the Major Arena Soccer League which completed their first professional indoor season in February at the nearby Lakeland Center.

Diegues was tied for the team lead in goals with 17, despite missing a month of games with a hamstrin injury, and was second in overall points on the team with 28. Parrerias was third on the team in goals with 14, and Rojas was tied for fifth on the team in goals with eight. He had a team-high two shots in the loss at Miami, which is now 3-0 on the season. Valerio, in goal, was credited with nine saves as Miami peppered him with 15 shots, and “out-cornered” Lakeland 6-2.

The game will be webscast live on-line on YouTube, as will all seven of the team's “Soccer Night” in Lakeland starts, six of which are Saturdays at 7:35, including next weekend's showdown with an instant rival, the Tampa Bay Rowdies U23 team.

More details, including ticket information for the rest of the home season which runs into early July, is found at www.lakelandtropics.com.