Match preview: Tropics welcome Next Academy Palm Beach Saturday in season opener

LAKELAND – The Lakeland Tropics will open their second season in the USL Premier Development League when they host Next Academy Palm Beach Saturday night at historic Bryant Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

This will be the second match in four nights for Lakeland, who made their U.S. Open Cup debut Wednesday in a 3-0 loss on the road to the Midland-Odessa Sockers. The Tropics hit goal posts in each half in a game that was closer than the final score would have indicated.

It is the season opener for Next Academy Palm Beach, formerly known as the Palm Beach Suns who started play in 2015. They were last in the nine-team PDL southeastern division last season, but were reformed late last year as Next Academy.

Their new coach is Brian McMahon, who has built a highly respected NCAA Division II Top 25 program at Palm Beach Atlantic, which has gone to the D-2 tournament for three straight seasons. During that period, he has posted a 44-9 overall record, and 25-2-3 mark in conference play. He has also coaches collegiately at Belhaven University, where he won a NAIA championship, and Greenville College.

Despite the team's last place finish last year, both games with the Tropics were very competitive, with Palm Beach falling 2-0 at Bryant Stadium, and the Tropics taking a 2-1 decision in Palm Beach. Lakeland needed two second-half goals, including one by leading scorer Ricardo Diegues, to take the win at home. A second-half goal by Victor Parreiras, who is out with a knee injury, was the difference in the road win.

Diegues, who netted 10 goals in 14 games last year to lead the Tropics, is back once again to spearhead the offense. Other key retunrees on the early season roster include Gustavo Rodrigues,  Matteus Assumpcao and defender Ramzi Toure. Newcomer Lucas Coutinho comes over from Lakeland's sister franchise, the Florida Tropics of the Major Arena Soccer League, where he was named the team's top rookie after scoring nine goals in 19 games. All played in Wednesday's Cup contest.

Lakeland will go on the road next Saturday when they take on another U.S. Open Cup participant, Miami City FC, before returning to Bryant Stadium May 26 when they host North County United in another 7 p.m. start. For tickets and more information, visit www.lakelandtropics.com or call 863-240-0101.