Elements unleash fury on Fury in Atlanta

Score tied when ‘intense’ lightning cuts short season’s only stop in Georgia

About the last song the Ottawa Fury FC want to hear on a playlist right this moment, or anytime in fact, is the Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.

The Fury spent almost eight hours Saturday night and into early Sunday morning in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville, watching the skies light up above Coolray Field, the lightning and deafening thunder so dangerously close to the stadium that officials delayed the start of their match with the Atlanta United 2 for more than three hours, trying to wait out the storm.

The match did not begin until shortly after 10 p.m. and the teams were into the 45th minute of the opening half when officials pulled them off the field again and sent them into their locker-rooms just as they were beginning injury time at the end of the first half.

Officials waited more than 70 minutes until a decision was made just after midnight to suspend the United Soccer League match with the score tied 1-1 and few left from the initial crowd of 3,596 to hear the announcement.

“It was intense,” said Fury FC keeper Maxime Crepeau, the USL’s player of the month in May, as the team made its way back north Sunday. “Lots of lightning. That’s why the game was suspended. And very heavy rain.

“But lots of lightning. That was the worst.”

The trip was the only one this season to Atlanta for the Fury and it will be difficult to complete the match later in the season.

The Fury were also well aware they had flights back to Ottawa Sunday morning at 9 so completing the game Sunday was not an option.

“On one hand, it was very frustrating because we had waited all this time to play,” said Crepeau. “But on the other hand, it kind of made sense.

“Those were not conditions you wanttoplayagamein.Asacompetitor, you always want to put your best performance forward, and (Saturday) night would not have been that.

“We had started the match at 10 p.m., and would’ve maybe finished it at 1 a.m., which would have been extremely difficult for everyone.”

All the two teams could do was huddle in their dressing rooms while thunder rocked outside and lightning lit the skies.

To make matters worse, the Fury FC faced a one-hour bus ride to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for their flights back home Sunday morning, meaning a good night’s sleep was not an option.

“We try and control what we can, and stay focused on that,” Crepeau continued. “It was hard, because we had arrived at the stadium at 5 p.m. and had to wait for a long time.

“But we tried to stay alert in the locker-room, trying to stay sharp

We would’ve maybe finished it at 1 a.m., which would have been extremely difficult for everyone.

and ready to go in case there would be a game to play.”

The 15th-place United 2, winners of just two of 14 games coming into the matchup with Ottawa, struck first with a goal in the third minute on a deflection by Andrew Carleton.

The lead stood up all of seven minutes until Kevin Oliveira fought his way into the box and tied things. Then came the second lengthy delay and ultimately the decision to suspend.

The Atlanta game was the second stop on a month-long odyssey through the USL with five straight league games away from TD Place. In addition, their road trip also has a Quebec stop Wednesday night at Stade Desjardins in Blainville where they will play the first leg of the Canadian Championship.

The Canadian Championship match is the Fury ’s lone home date until July 8 versus Pittsburgh after stops in New York on June 24, Cincinnati on June 30 and Indianapolis on July 4.

By the time they return to face Pittsburgh, it will be 36 days between USL appearances at TD Place.

But once they do return, it’s five consecutive home games and eight of their next 10 in a stretch that will truly tell the story of the 2018 season.

As for their wasted trip south, a win would have given the Fury a season sweep against Atlanta, having beaten the United 2-0 in Ottawa May 12. It also would have meant a split away from home after losing Wednesday night in North Carolina.

Instead, they have to wait a week to try and move up the table into striking distance of a playoff spot with the second half of their regular season schedule to begin with the July 4 game in Indianapolis.