Cyle Larin has scored more than three dozen goals across MLS since entering the league in 2015, but no one has felt the Orlando City striker’s sting more acutely than New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls.
After Sunday’s matchwinning brace vs. NYCFC, the strapping Canadian has now scored 13 times against the two Gotham-area sides, which adds up to a whopping 35 percent of his 37 career goals as a professional. And he’s chipped in a few timely assists to boot. Nine of those have come vs. City – that’s 24 percent of his career total.
And 10 of Larin’s 13 against the two New York teams have come in the Big Apple. He has bagged hat tricks against both NYCFC and RBNY, starting with this one on July 26, 2015, on the wrong side of a 5-3 barnburner:
That NYCFC win is the only one the Pigeons have earned against the Lions to date, with Orlando now enjoying a 5-1-2 advantage in the series between the expansion brethren. Two months later Larin lit up the red side of New York with another hat trick, this time at Red Bull Arena:
Larin kept up the heroics in 2016 with two goals (March 18 and Apr. 24) and an assist in three trips to the Tri-State region.
Can he maintain this pace? Orlando have one more regular-season trip to the Big Apple this season, a visit to Red Bull Arena on Saturday, Aug. 12. But they'll welcome NYCFC to Orlando City Stadium in just a few weeks, on Sunday, May 21 (7 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes in US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
