06/09/09

06.9.2009 | Men’s Soccer

NPSL Triumphs Over PDL

The Sol played in the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in Irvine, CA against Orange County Blue Stars and expected a good match in order to advance to the second round. Right from the start the Sol took it to the Blue Stars, taking control of the game quickly and efficiently, playing the ball too quickly for the Blue Stars to keep up. The first Sol goal came in just under five minutes. High defensive pressure resulted in a bad pass from one Blue Star defender to another and Trevor Hurst cut across, stealing the ball and going to goal. His shot beat the goalkeeper near post and hit the back of the net, giving the Sol a 1-0 lead. After about fifteen minutes play evened out a bit more, with unforced errors from both teams resulting in more than a few key chances.

Twenty minutes into the first half Sol goalkeeper J. C. Sosa got his first difficult save of the game, and on the rebound made a spectacular second save to keep the Sol ahead. On a through ball Sosa closed down the space and blocked a shot away and to the left where the forward got to it and hit another shot that Sosa deflected wide once again. The forward, visibly disappointed, said after the game “I expected to score. If not on the first shot, on the second. The keeper made two great saves. That goal could have made all the difference.” Lucky for the Sol, Sosa was on his game and was more than up to the task. He kept the scoreline at 1-0 through the rest of the half.

Going into the second half Benjamin Ziemer wanted his team to “adjust and dominate; take it easy and bury it when we get the chance.” Not five minutes into the second half Benjamin got his wish. Eric Larson took a shot from the top of the box that rocketed off the post and came back to Sean Percell. He took a touch and struck the ball hard into the back of the Blue Star net, beating the keeper to the far post. “I was in the right place and did what I've spent my life perfecting” Percell said of the goal putting Sol up 2-0.

Play continued with the Sol pushing hard on the Blue Stars, never relenting and surely never letting them back into the game. Twenty minutes into the half a Blue Star defender slide-tackled Sol forward Chris Wright from behind at the top of the box, earning a red card and putting the Blue Stars down a player for the rest of the match. On a ball in the keeper went up against a Sol forward and bobbled it to his right where he was met with a hard challenge from Sol left back Lee Sandwina. The ball bounced free to Brandon Boone who passed it to the top of the box to Eric Lafon who's shot rocketed past the Blue Star goalkeeper, giving him no chance to save it.

The fourth Sol goal came on a pass from Eric Lafon to Eric Larson, who took one half step and hit the ball with the outside of his right foot, curling the ball into the upper right hand corner. “It wasn't a rocket but there was no way the keeper could get to hit. I was just happy it went in” Larson said after the game.

Only one minute later the Blue Stars got their first goal of the night on a through ball over the top and behind the Sol center-backs. From a seemingly impossible angle and with his back to goal the Blue Star forward volleyed a beautiful shot far post and into the side netting, beating Sol goalkeeper J. C. Sosa. Scott Preckwinkle commented that “the shot was a once in a lifetime shot, he couldn't do it again if we gave him a hundred chances.”

Twenty-five seconds after the Blue Stars scored the Sol netted another goal, tearing the heart out of the Blue Star team. Shawn Percell struck again, burying a shot in the back of the net, just before the keeper could get to it, making the score 5-1in favor of the Sol. Another Blue Star player was pulled off—the right midfielder—though this time by the coach and not the referee. “I'm not sure what the coach was thinking. He didn't have another substitution—it must have just been between the coach and that player” Sol fan Brent Douglas said after the game. But the Blue Stars still attacked, trying to get another goal. On what seemed like an obvious offsides, a Blue Star forward went one-on-one to goal against goalkeeper J. C. Sosa. But Sosa's center back Adam Shields was chasing like his life depended on it and caught the forward just as he was cutting the ball back for a shot and Shields knocked it away and out of bounds. “It was ridiculous,” Shields said later, “the linesman said the guy was just that much faster than us. But there was no way he could be or I wouldn't have caught him. It was a bad call.” Despite the bad call, the reffing throughout the match remained fairly consistent.

On the corner kick earned by the Blue Stars for the breakaway they capitalized for their second goal of the night. A Blue Star forward won a header over defender Lee Sandwina and put the ball high into the back of the net. “I hardly ever lose a header, but I wasn't focused and my team paid for it,” Sandwina said, adding “it just shows that you have to concentrate from start to finish, you can't become lackadaisical in the back.” The Blue Star goal rounded out a back and forth bout of four goals in just under five minutes. This is only the second time all season any team has scored two goals on the Sol. “We can't give up goals so easily,” outside back Mickey Daly said, “we'll end up losing to better teams if we give up goals late in the game.”

The final score at the end of the match was 5-2 in favor of the unbeaten Sol, which now has a record of 11-0-2, and outscoring opponents 45-11. When asked what the difference was between the two teams, Sol outside back Norm Crochetiere said “The Blue Stars put up a fifteen-minute fight at the end of the first half, but other than that the Sonoma County Sol brought the pain to the point of execution. We proved too much for them to handle.”

The Sol's next game will be Saturday June 13th in San Jose against Real San Jose of the NPSL. But more important to the Sol will be the upcoming second round of the Lamar Hunt U. S. Open Cup, with a TUESDAY NIGHT MATCH as the Sol hosts the Portland Timbers of the USL-1 at SANTA ROSA HIGH at 7:00pm. Portland is a professional team just one division below the MLS that will move up into the MLS in 2011, so come support the Sol in its desire to remain unbeaten this season!

Article Written by Lee Sandwina

Shawn Percell/Photo By Laura Arnold

2009 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

1st Round Victors