Rival Rowdies will kick off three-game road trip for second-place Tropics

LAKELAND –  The Lakeland Tropics will look to keep its high flying offense in gear Wednesday night when they start a three-game road trip against the Tampa Bay Rowdies U23 side, Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at the Waters Avenue soccer complex.

The game is a rematch of a 2-1 Tropics win on June 3 at Bryant Stadium. Ricardo Diegues converted a penalty kick in stoppage time for the game winner.

Diegues, the Lakeland captain, is second in the Premier Development League in goals with seven, and has at least one goal in every game during the team's five-page win streak.

Lakeland midfielder Victor Rojas, who has three goals and an assist, is tied for the PDL lead in shots tihis year with 31, while Diegues has 23, ranked second in the 72-team league.  Lakeland goalkeeper Jonathan Valerio has had clean sheets in two of his last three starts, lowering his goals against average to 1.51. He has faced 38 shots in six games, third most in the PDL, and has a save percentage of .809.

Lakeland is tied for second in the PDL'S nine- team southeast division with a 5-1 record good for 15 points. FC Miami City also is 5-1. The two teams will meet June 24 at Lakeland's Bryant Stadium. The Tropics only loss was a season opening defeat at Miami on May 11.

Tampa Bay comes into the match with a 2-3 mark, and the Tropics wonder which Rowdies team will show up. The U23 team had an impressive 5-3 win over the South Florida Surf Sunday, but last Wednesday was on the wrong end of an 8-3 decision against The Villages SC, who will be the Tropics opponent on Saturday. Lakeland is ranked fourth in the PDL'S southern conference power rankings; Tampa Bay is an honorable mention selection.

The Rowdies are led by Kevin Mendoza with three goals and one assist. Seven different Rowdies have scored at least one goal in their five games. Sean Caulfield got the start in goal in the game in Lakeland, but three different Tampa Bay netminders have logged at least 100 minutes this spring.

Lakeland is playing five games in a two -week stretch, which started last Saturday with a 4-0 home win over Wesson FC. After Saturday's game at the Villages, the Tropics will be on the road June 21 against the South Florida Surf before the showdown with Miami at home.