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Playoff Weekend, 220 Minutes of Drama…
(part 2 - SPSL Division 3 Championship)
Starfire Sports Facility, Sunday July 20th - 7 PM
Stats Sheet (PDF)
Season Spreadsheet (XLS)
The
other Saturday semi-final matchup pinned the number two team,
Showstoppers, versus number three Eagles. The Showstoppers held its
ground and defeated its three-seed rival 3-2 to advance to Sundays
Division 3 Championship match.
Having suffered an embarrassing loss in week two (7-1), the Showstoppers were more than ready to show their true colors in the only game that mattered.
Wolfpac started the game with 10 and gained one just before halftime, but unfortunately never got a sub. The overtime semi-final the night before couldn’t have been good for the short handed team looking to claim its first championship in quite some time.
Both teams tested the waters and had a few chances early on but nothing materialized until the 32nd minute when a Showstopper’s corner kick was headed in by one of their two big men in the middle. Wolfpac again found themselves playing from behind.
Wolfpac found it’s equalizer in the 43rd minute when Kyle Lashbrook spotted Smith making a run out of his left midfield position. Lashbrook’s pass was perfect; Smith took a few dribbles at goal before narrowly beating the Showstopper GK to the near-post.
After halftime, in the 63rd minute, Wolfpac looked to break the tie first. A well timed pass through the Showstopper defense sent Waldron sprinting at goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. He made a feint right, unbalancing the goalkeeper, then left and saw the open net – just then he was cut down in the box as a last ditch effort to save a goal by the Showstopper GK.
The foul stung, particularly for the Showstoppers who after receiving the red card were now down to 10 men and without their starting goalkeeper. Waldron recuperated while the never-wavering Merrifield stepped up to his all too familiar PK spot and netted Wolfpac’s second goal of the match.
The Showstoppers didn’t give up though. Despite being down a player and a goal they rallied and scored two in the next 12 minutes giving them the 3-2 lead - goals in the 68th and 75th minutes came off their second set piece header and a nasty deflection that snuck in on the back post.
Wolfpac again went on the attack, hurrying everything as it did in the semi, trying to find that equalizer. Their progress was slowed however when Kevin Lashbrook received his second yellow card of the match; the first for kicking a ball away after a foul and then the send off for dissent.
With both teams now level at 10 players, the Showstoppers with the one goal advantage and just fewer than 15 minutes to play it looked grim for Wolfpac. That was until the 88th minute when Waldron put a pass just ahead of Smith, again coming out of the midfield and beating the offsides trap. Smith looked up to see that the Showstopper GK had come off his line and lefty’d a ball just out of reach to knot the game at three.
Into OT we go – exhausted but cautiously optimistic after narrowly defeating Three Lions the night before.
Seven minutes drug on in the first OT at a snail’s pace but Wolfpac was first to find net after winning a corner kick. Waldron watched as his in-swinger dropped short in the box and inexplicably was cleared back outside to his position. He gained possession then cut in towards goal, avoiding a defender and launched another in-swinger with pin-point accuracy that found the back post, side netting.
Wolfpac just needed to hold on; 12 minutes left, don’t let down, strong defense where the words yelled among the players clad in orange. However, it was only two minutes later when the Showstoppers found the fourth overall equalizer of the game.
What looked to be tired legs and perhaps at most a shoulder bump in the box was whistled a PK against Merrifield and Wolfpac. The referee claimed “He pulled the player down” and “he’s been doing it all game” – but to some (Wolfpac) it sounded more personal either towards Merrifield or Wolfpac in general.
Showstoppers went right, Quemada guessed correctly, but finger tips where not enough and the game was again tied.
The teams switched sides (no intermission) and now, 109 minutes into the game, it looked to be going into penalty kicks. Inside the last minute of play Wolfpac pressed on and a neatly timed pass opened up the middle of the field for Kyle Lashbrook. Lashbrook closed in on goal and let go a shot just as he was tripped up from behind – the shot however found netting just beyond the Showstopper GK.
Celebration started but quickly quieted as the referee had whistled the foul without even a millisecond advantage and Wolfpac was forced to settle this from the spot.
Merrifield again stepped to the all-too-familiar spot - determined to win this now or perhaps with revenge on his mind for a bogus PK that would lead to his redemption – he looked focused. He approached, stutter stepped and fired right, goalkeeper going left.
It was over – before the go-ahead goal celebration concluded, the referee blew the fulltime whistle.
Wolfpac is the SPSL Spring D3 Champion
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Last Update: Monday
July 21st, 2008; 22:30