Coming off the high of a 1-0 win against rival Bradenton, the Central Florida Kraze entered their game against division leader Baton Rouge with high spirits. They were crushed in a 2-0 loss Sunday.
The Kraze triumphed against their archrival and were battered by the undefeated league leader this week, as they struggled to rise in the Premier Development League's Southeast Division standings.
Luckily for the Kraze (4-2-2), few of the teams ahead of them found a win, so they're still within a win of jumping to third place in the division and being in hot pursuit of a postseason berth.
But don't tell that to the Kraze this week, who suffered a 2-0 battering to the Baton Rouge Capitals (7-0-0) on Sunday.
In an extremely physical match that saw seven cautions — four of them in the final 10 minutes of the game — the Kraze struggled to find the net, while Baton Rouge, already ahead from a goal at the 58th minute, capitalized on a penalty in the box for a second goal to put it away in injury time.
Those two goals found their way into the net despite keeper Jhojan Obando's heroics, as he stopped 11 shots in the game. Wesley Giachetti, who's usually at goal, is still out.
The Kraze had some hope for a win entering their game against Baton Rouge, coming off a recent 1-0 win over rival Bradenton (2-5-3) to even the score between the two teams at a win each plus a tie.
Fredrik Brustad slammed a goal into the Academics' net in the 31st minute off a John Sosa pass to put the Kraze over the top in that match.
Coming up for the Kraze, the Atlanta Blackhawks (4-1-4) will arrive on the pitch for a 7 p.m. Thursday showdown at Showalter Field in Winter Park. With a win, the Kraze will leap into at least fourth place in the division.