Mississippi Brilla FC welcomed the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd after a tough road loss to begin the season last week in Texas. Led by first year head coach Mike Azira, Brilla did not disappoint the locals during a 3 goal outburst in the first half.
In the 16th minute, Ayden Von Essen opened the scoring after Joel Albritton chased down a Parish pass to the keeper. After rounding the keeper, Albritton slotted the ball in front of the goal to Von Essen, who calmly placed it in the back of the net.
Just 3 minutes later, Brilla was the beneficiary of an own goal when Von Essen passed the ball to the back post where David Chung was waiting, but Parish defender Ryan Macias knocked the ball into his own net. The two-goal lead in just under 20 minutes had the home side cruising.
Chung’s cross in the 34th minute found the head of Trey Gardiner from about 6 yards out. The header landed in the goal and Brilla was on their way to a 3-0 halftime lead.
LA Parish AC was determined to not go away without a fight. They scored their first goal of the night in the 53rd minute when James Couhig found Yahir Pena right in front of the goal for a tap in.
Things got interesting when Couhig scored one of his own in the 80th minute from an assist by Johan Arevalo.
After some tense moments, Brilla was grateful for the three whistles that ended the match and gave them their first victory of the season. Both teams move to 1-1 on the season.
Brilla’s next match will be on Wednesday, May 31 in Shreveport against Blue Goose SC.