KENNESAW, Ga. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies set a new mark for the longest shutout streak in USL Championship history as Sebastian Guenzatti provided both goals in a 2-0 victory against Atlanta United 2 on Saturday night at Fifth Third Bank Stadium that took the club’s streak to 801 minutes without conceding a goal with an eighth consecutive shutout.

The Rowdies got out to an ideal start as they took the lead inside the opening two minutes when Guenzatti cleaned up from close range after Atlanta goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo was unable to cleanly claim a cross from the left by Laurence Wyke. After the early setback, the hosts began to come into the game, though, and in the 19th minute Darwin Matheus sent a shot high after a piece of interplay at the top of the penalty area with Erik Lopez, while a few minutes later Tampa Bay’s Yann Ekra shepherded a cross from the left away as Atlanta’s Ajani Fortune threatened to arrive for a back-post finish.

Tampa Bay got back onto the front foot as the half reached its midway point and Sebastian Dalgaard cleverly beat his defender on the right as he skated into the penalty area before cutting a pass back for Wyke, whose shot was blocked away by Josh Bauer. Off the ensuing corner kick, a deep ball from the left by Lewis Hilton was headed back across goal by Forrest Lasso for a close-range header by Steevan Dos Santos, but the ball went straight at Rios Novo for a save.

Atlanta had another chance to level just past the half-hour mark as Matheus again linked up with Lopez, sending a pass through for Paraguayan for a low shot that was saved by Tampa Bay’s Evan Louro, but the Rowdies’ doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time as Dos Santos was played into the right side of the penalty area by Hilton where the Cape Verde forward centered for Guenzatti to finish from close range for his second of the night.

The visitors remained positive to start the second half – sending the side to its landmark of 760 minutes without conceding as the game entered the 49th minute – and Guenzatti almost bagged his hat trick just past the hour-mark as he flicked a header off a cross from the right by Dalgaard that hit the crossbar. The rebound came back out and was corralled by Wyke, but his shot was blocked as Atlanta cleared.

Tampa Bay had other half-chances but had to come up with a key defensive play late on to maintain its clean sheet as Phillip Goodrum turned his marker well 35 yards from goal and sent Jackson Conway into the right side of the penalty area. Conway’s shot was parried by Louro, who then recovered to just enough to put off Goodrum as he clipped a chance on the rebound just wide of the left post. The Rowdies saw out the result, and the shutout, from there to continue its remarkable defensive run of form.

USLChampionship.com Man of the Match

Sebastian Guenzatti, Tampa Bay Rowdies – Guenzatti notched his second consecutive two-goal outing and also hit the crossbar in five shots overall to provide the goals on a historic night for the Rowdies.

Scoring Summary
TBR – Sebastian Guenzatti 2’
TBR – Sebastian Guenzatti (Steevan Dos Santos) 45+1’

Full Box Score