Clipped by Cincinnati

ECC Raptor Ambassadors Sky (left) and Aurora (right)

DC United lost its fourth game in a row last night (April 12), 1-0 to Cincinnati at Audi Field.

The Screaming Eagles tailgate before the game featured a raffle to raise money for the Earth Conservation Corps (ECC), who manage our tailgate location, the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center. The Washington Spirit game was on TV (they defeated Racing Louisville on the road, 2-0 to raise their record to 3 wins and 1 loss), and one of the ECC's raptor ambassadors was out. I'm not sure if it was Sky or Aurora (the two female red-tailed hawks shown above) but her handler was making the rounds letting people (including myself) pet her chest (pictures courtesy of the ECC). There is a little hollow there where she keeps her food.

DC's starting lineup was:

Luis Barraza in goal (replacing Kim for the first time this season)

Schnegg, Rowles, McNaughton, Bartlett, Herrera on defense (although it could be argued that Schnegg and Herrera were up in midfield)

Kijima, Servania, Peglow, Stroud in midfield (although it could also be argued that Peglow and Stroud were playing at left and right forwards respectively)

Benteke at forward

Subs: Pirani for Stroud (73rd ), Murrell for Kijima (81st ), Leal for Peglow (86th ), Badji for McNaughton (86th )

It was a much more respectable performance than last week's 6-1 shellacking at San Jose, but overall DC was flat, especially on offense. Cincinnati was missing 5 starters from their lineup but still showed good discipline and passing. Bartlett almost scored an own goal in the 15th minute as Barrazza was just able to clear a back pass off the line; one earlier had gone wide for a corner kick. Benteke was being manhandled but very few fouls were called.

Cincinnati scored the game's only goal in the 28th minute when Cincinnati's Gerardo Valenzuela got away with pulling down his defender (Bartlett) by the arm and then shot over Barraza, who went down early. DC had chances (14 shots) but only 2 on goal and neither were threatening. The second half was better than the first. DC ended up with 58% of the possession and 10 corner kicks but Benteke was marked very physically throughout the game and no one else really stepped up.

DC now hits the road against two local rivals: at the New York Red Bulls in Harrison, NJ next Saturday (April 19) at 730pm, and at the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, April 26 at 4:30pm. The Screaming Eagles will be sending buses to both games; if you're interested in going you can sign up here. The price is extremely reasonable, especially for Screaming Eagles members, and (in my opinion) a lot of fun.