06/07/09

06.07.2009 | Men’s Soccer

Sol Edges Out Lamorinda 2-1, Protecting First Place

After an easy win on Saturday against Samba, Sol had to turn around and play a much more talented and dangerous Lamorinda SC. The last time these two teams met resulted in an easy 2-0 win on the Sol's opening night at Santa Rosa High. But this game would prove much different; Lamorinda's college players that were absent from the previous match-up aided in mounting a stronger attack on the Sol's no-loss season.

Right from the whistle Lamorinda pressured the Sol, forcing a few early turnovers and catching Sol on its heels. The home team seemed determined to dethrone the highly regarded Sol, but despite their best efforts the Sol still scored first. Steven Browne placed a perfect ball on a corner right on the six yard box for where Adam Shields fought off three other players, out-jumping them and heading the ball past the Lamorinda goalkeeper for his first goal of the season. “It's exciting. I haven't scored in a long time,” Shields said after the game.

Just minutes later Lamorinda had their best chance of the first half. A nicely driven ball got in behind the Sol defense and the Lamorinda striker ran onto it, touching the ball once before goalkeeper Tim Maycock came out, trying to close off as much of the goal as possible. The striker hit a light volley over Maycock, beating him but hitting off the post and back into play where he got another chance that was thwarted by Sol center-back Scott Preckwinkle. “I just tried to give him the worst possible angle and that meant coming out; I didn't want the guy to have a one-on-one shot” Maycock commented about the near-goal opportunity.

With seventeen minutes left in the half the Sol struck again on a corner. Browne earned his second assist of the game. He whipped in a great corner to the head of Chris Wright who redirected the cross to the bottom left of the goal. “I told Browne six yards off the six on the near post. He put it there and Adam Shields provided the pick for me to head the ball and score” Wright said of his fifth goal of the season. Sol finished out the half ahead 2-0 and confident that more would come.

The game continued to be hard-fought in the second half, with many fouls on either team. Unfortunately the reffing took a turn for the worse despite a great job in the first half. “One of the worst reffing jobs of the entire season” Benjamin Ziemer said after the game. “They were inconsistent and stopped the flow of the game way too much. It inhibited our ability to control the pace of the game.”

The second half seemed much more fair than the first, with play being dominated by neither team. Lamorinda challenged the Sol goalkeeper on more than one occasion. After many second half subs were made, and with only fifteen minutes left, Lamorinda scored to bring the game to 2-1. “It was a scramble and they happened to hit a decent shot that just got by,” Maycock said of their only goal. The rest of the game had urgency and anxiousness not previously experienced by the Sol. Lamorinda pressured relentlessly, looking for the equalizer. Center-backs Adam Shields and Mickey Daly prevented just about every attempt, either heading the ball out or clearing it from danger.

With only four minutes left Lamorinda had another chance to equalize, when a forward received a ball just outside the six-yard box. He took a shot on his first touch, spraying the ball wide and high of the goal, and finishing off Lamorinda's hopes for a tie or win. With less than a minute to play the ball dropped dangerously in the Sol penalty box, where players thrust themselves to the ground after the ball, trying to gain the advantage for their team. Sol eventually cleared it and the whistle blew, signaling the end of the match; another Sol win, 2-1 over the second place team.

Sol takes on the Orange County Blue Stars on Tuesday at 2pm in Irvine, Ca.

Article By Lee Sandwina

Steven Browne/ Courtesy of Penn Stoners