CINCINNATI 10 OAXACA 6
1790 Cincinnati survived a late comeback attempt to outlast the Golden Tigers of Oaxaca 10-6 in the first semi-final match of the PASL-Pro Championships.
1790 advances to the championship match tomorrow at 1:00 P.M PST where they will face the winner of the second semi-final between the Stockton Cougars and the Edmonton Drillers.
Garrett Buck opened the scoring 6:50 into the first quarter when he slid home a pass from Jack Cummings to put 1790 on the board.The final minute of the first quarter was the most entertaining as Tigres leveled the score with 40.6 seconds left on the clock as Miguel Coos fired the ball beyond Craig Salvati in the 1790 goal. Just as it looked it looked like the first was going to end with the teams tied at 1-1, 1790 Cincinnati won a corner with 7.6 seconds left. Head coach Craig Rhodis called a timeout and 1790 Cincinnati worked the set piece to perfection as Rhodis rolled the ball across the face of goal for Sam Fiore to tap in.
The second quarter was all 1790 as Jimmy Cummings scored 12 seconds after the kickoff. Further goals from brother Jack Cummings and Craig Rhodis gave 1790 a 5-1 lead heading into halftime.
Jimmy Cummings opened the scoring in the third quarter and a blast by Jeff Hughes on the power play put the US Champions into a commanding 7-1 lead.
Oaxaca fired off the next two goals through Alberto Espinoza and Julio Juarez, but Jack Cummings scored his second goal of the match with 44 seconds left in the third quarter to give 1790 a 8-3 lead heading into the final period of play.
The Golden Tigers came roaring back in the fourth quarter cutting the lead to 8-6 with 1:07 seconds left in the match and brought on the sharp shooter Adhemir Martinez.
All hopes of a miraculous comeback were crushed for the Mexicans as Buck scored his second of the evening, smashing the ball down the length of the field beyond Martinez and into the empty net.
Rhodis made sure of the victory with 15.8 seconds left as he won the ball on the boards and lobbed Martinez who could not recover in time.
1790 scored in the final minute of every quarter en route to their 10-6 victory. Whether 1790 play the Edmonton Drillers or the Stockton Cougars in the finals of tomorrow’s PASL North American Championship match, one thing is for certain. You can hear all the action on the PASL Radio Network starting at 12:55 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.
STOCKTON 10 EDMONTON 9 (OT)
The only question is, what can the PASL-Pro Championship Weekend do for an encore in tomorrow’s Championship? After two one goal games on Friday, Saturday’s two games featured heated physical play between Cincinnati and Oaxaca and the intensity carried over into the match between the host Stockton Cougars and the Edmonton Drillers.
Stockton sent the delirious crowd home fully satiated when Aaron Susi roofed a ball from the far corner in sudden death to give the Cougars a stunning 10-9 win. The Cougars thought they had the game won at the final buzzer when Majell Aterado whistled in a low shot into the back of the net, but the referees determined that the final horn had sounded and waved off the goal.
The Cougars battled and battled, rallying from 4-2 and 7-5 deficits, only to lose 5-4, 8-7, and 9-8 leads.
The teams traded goals throughout, but simmered on trading blows in the entire first half as the teams had to be separated numerous times.
The bad blood cooled in the second half, but not the intensity. Both teams seemed to have the game turning to their advantage only to be turned away by goalkeepers Jesus Molina and Tristan Ilko. Molina registered double-digit saves in the second quarter and Ilko came up biggest late in the game.
Phil Pavicic had a hat trick for Edmonton and Sinisa Matic had 4 assists. Bernie Lilavois was the top point-getter for the Cougars with a goal and three assists. Antonio Sutton, Ato Leone, and Susi each had two goals and Brian Farber had a goal and two assists.
The Cougars will now meet Cincinnati at 1:00pm tomorrow for the PASL-Pro North American Championship. In their only meeting of the season Cincinnati won 8-7 in overtime at Game Time Training Center.
