STOCKTON, Calif. - November 22, 2008 - Stockton (3-0, 4-0) received three goal performances from head coach Bernie Lilavois, Majell Aterado and Ato Leone during their record setting 15-5 win over the Denver Dynamite (2-3) at Stockton Arena. A crowd of 2,344 watched Lilavois, Aterado and Leone rack up four total points each in the match. The Cougars had not scored more than 11 goals in a home match until netting 15 in Saturday’s win. The victory was also the largest margin of victory in team history.
Lilavois put the Cougars on the board for the first time mid-way through the first quarter. However, his team had already dropped behind the Dynamite by two goals before his score. His former teammate, Chris Handsor, gave Denver the early lead with a goal just :20 seconds into the match. Garth Archibald, a former Cougars player, assisted him on the opening score.
Sacramento native Mickey Duarte put the Dynamite up 2-0 in the first when he hit his goal against Jesus Molina and the Cougars. It would be the only time that Molina and the Cougars struggled to stop the Dynamite offense.
Coach Lilavois called a timeout after Duarte’s goal. He took his team to the bench and the positive impact of the meeting was immediate. He scored the first of five consecutive Stockton goals. An unassisted goal from Aterado tied the match at 2-2 in the first quarter and Lilavois’ second goal put the Cougars on top for good.
The Cougars quickly settled in to a more controlled attack after their initial timeout early in the first quarter. They dominated possession after the two early Denver goals and out shot the Dynamite 31-14 in the match. They took 10 shots in the second quarter to just two for Denver.
Outside of the two early goals, Molina was largely untested during the match. He did, however, making several outstanding saves late in the match. He finished with nine saves and picked up his third PASL-Pro conference win.
Denver goalkeeper Justin Dzuba saved 16 of 31 shots faced in the match. His defense helped with eight blocks.
The scoring continued for Stockton when Aterado connected again early in the second quarter. His goal extended the Cougars lead to 4-2. Nelson Santana then gave the Cougars the 5-2 lead with a goal assisted by Aaron Susi.
Archibald got into the mix with a goal at the 10:07 mark of the second to end the scoring run by the Cougars.
But, Pedro Lupercio struck a pass from Leone and nailed Stockton’s sixth goal of the match just minutes after Archibald’s score.
Leone scored three goals in the match, including his first as a member of the PASL-Pro. His first was a power play goal in the third quarter and was assisted by Santana.
Greg Howes scored two goals in the match and Brian Farber picked up one goal and an assist.
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EDMONTON DRAWS FIRST BLOOD IN BATTLE OF
ALBERTA
The Edmonton Drillers rallied from 5-3 and 6-4 deficits late in the game against Calgary United, to come away with a dramatic 7-6 overtime victory in PASL-Pro action on Saturday night in
Calgary.
The crowd at the
Calgary
Soccer
Center was treated to an entertaining back and forth affair that saw
Edmonton jump to an early 2-0 lead, before United leveled things just before the half.
Despite it being their first competitive match of the indoor season the visitors surprised the hosts when they tucked a loose ball in at the back post just a minute and twenty seconds after kickoff. And although Calgary countered immediately with sustained pressure and an organized half court style offence, they couldn’t solve Tristan Ilko in the
Edmonton goal. The best chance coming when Allen Jovica rang one off the crossbar with three minutes to go in the opening frame.
Chris Lemire scored
Edmonton ’s second goal against the run of play early in the second quarter, and Ilko’s dominant performance continued until Kyle Yamada broke the shutout with 2:35 left in the first half. Andre Duberry tied the score 35 seconds later, but Lemire put Edmonton back in front 25 seconds into the 3rd quarter on a sloppy turnover by keeper Bryan Klaus deep in the
Calgary end.
Despite being out shot 20 to 4 to that point,
Edmonton had a 3-2 lead and began to assert themselves on the attacking end of the floor. The action was end to end, both teams hit the crossbar, and Ilko and Klaus traded saves until United’s Felix Napuri bundled one in from close range to tie the score 3-3.
Shortly after Napuri set up Chris Kooy, and Kooy eventually set up Mark Slade to give Calgary a 5-3 lead, but Edmonton’s Freddy Halek pulled one back with only minutes left in the quarter.
Klaus stopped an Edmonton penalty kick late in that same quarter, and
Calgary killed off a Matt Deeprose penalty that carried over into the fourth, before taking a 6-4 lead on a pretty passing play between Yamada, Milan Timotijevic, and Napuri. But
Edmonton refused to go away, and got goals from Halek and Eric Pinell to send the match to overtime.
There were times in the game when Edmonton looked out of sync, but the veteran squad never panicked, and were rewarded when Pinell chipped a little ball over a sliding Klaus two and a half minutes into the overtime frame to give
Edmonton a 7-6 victory.
The Drillers got two goal efforts from Pinell, Halek, and Lemire, but Ilko came away man of the match on the strength of a 24 save evening.
Calgary coach Dave Randall was disappointed with his clubs effort on the defensive side of the ball.
“It was our own fault we lost the game. The defending in our own third was horrendous. All credit to
Edmonton , and their goalie was brilliant, but it was the worst performance in the back from some of my guys that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Kyle Yamada’s strong effort in the midfield earned him man of the match for United.
