Reserves power Dynamo past Northern Virginia (Thanks to the News & Record.)

GREENSBORO — The Carolina Dynamo simply had too much depth for the Northern Viginia Royals.

Even without the contingent of players from UNC-Chapel Hill, who were just finishing up their trip to Costa Rica, the Dynamo never trailed and came away with a 3-1 win at Macpherson Stadium.

And on top of that it was the reserves for Carolina who did all of the scoring. Midfielder Erfan Imani came off the bench after an injury to Daniel Roberts and scored the only goal in the first half, giving the Dynamo the lead at the 33-minute mark.

“We wanted to try to get them all in in different spots,” Carolina coach Joe Brown said of his substitution plan. “For Erfan’s situation I wanted to see him behind the forwards sooner or later. Obviously the situation called for that and I thought he did a good job.”

While it was the only goal of the half, the Dynamo had several opportunities and generally forced all of the action in the opening 45 minutes. And when Carolina did not press the attack, Brown was up pacing the sidelines, urging his team to stay on the offensive.

“It’s such a new group,” Brown said. “We still have a lot of talent. We are not playing with the intensity that we need to, certainly when we play at home. Sometime you just have to motivate them.”

Carolina finally cashed in on some chances in the second half. Defenseman Chris Estridge came up with the ball at midfield and the Royals kept expecting him to pass the ball. Instead, Estridge took it deep into Northern Virginia territory, before hammering home a goal at the 73-minute mark.

“Chris did a very good job for us coming out of the back,” Brown said. “He just realized the opening was coming and he didn’t have to pass it.”

Minutes later, Imani booted his second goal of the night, off a feed from Cody Arnoux.

“The energy of the subs made a difference for us tonight,” Brown said. “We should be wearing teams down and our subs should be a game-changer for us.”

The Royals scored a goal late to ruin the shutout. Brown was upset with the defensive lapse and blamed the team rather than keeper Brock Duckworth.

Goals: Carolina, Erfan Imeni 2, Chris Estridge. Northern Virginia: Yu Hoshide. Assists: Carolina, Thomas Campbell, Cody Arnoux. Northern Virginia, Phil Gordon. Shots: Carolina 16, Northern Virginia 5. Saves: Carolina (Brock Duckworth) 2, Northern Virginia (Joel Helmic) 4. Corner Kicks: Carolina 5, Northern Virginia 5.

Records: Northern Virginia 0-5-3; Carolina 3-2-2

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