Slumping Splash Manages to Get by Carolina : Soccer: Anaheim survives scare to win, 7-6, and remain in first in the Western Conference.
The air of invincibility is gone, and the Splash is lucky its hold on first place isn’t gone, too.
By beating the Carolina Vipers, 7-6, Saturday in front of 4,530 at The Pond of Anaheim, the Splash avoided an embarrassing defeat to the Continental Indoor Soccer League’s worst team.
The Vipers (1-8), last in the league in offense and defense, frustrated the Splash most of the night.
Only Dale Ervine’s shootout goal 12 minutes 58 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Doug Neely’s power-play score with 55 seconds left prevented an upset.
The Splash was coming off a terrible performance a night earlier against Portland, a 6-5 overtime loss, which Carolina players watched from the stands.
It was the Splash’s third loss in four games, and the Vipers showed a complete lack of respect Saturday for their opponents, who lead the Western Conference.
The Splash (8-3), who maintained a half-game lead over San Diego (7-3), needed to re-establish itself in this game after winning easily early in the season.
The Splash might not have restored its image as a dominating team, but it did win.
“At the beginning of the year, we established that we were going to be one of the best teams in the league,” Splash Coach George Fernandez said. “You’ve got to understand that when you’re on top, everyone wants to knock you off. Every team we play will raise their level of play. Portland proved it (Friday) night and Carolina probably played over their heads tonight.”
Fernandez was ecstatic with a Splash effort in which it outshot Carolina, 47-23, and came from a goal behind to win in the final moments.
“You’ve got to credit their goalie (Yaro),” said Ralph Black, who gave the Splash a 3-2 lead.
Yaro was spectacular much of the night, finishing with 19 saves.
“That’s probably our sharpest game of the year,” Fernandez said.
Continuing to play well despite the Splash’s slump is Raffaele Ruotolo, who had two goals and two assists. He tied the CISL record for consecutive games with an assist (12).
Neely’s goal was his ninth power-play goal, extending his CISL record. He has scored 12 times on 28 shots. Stopped, however, was Rod Castro’s league-record consecutive game scoring streak of 14, dating back to last season.
The victory was also important because the Splash enters its toughest weekend to date--a home game against Monterrey (8-4) Friday, and a game at Dallas (8-1) Saturday. They are the top two teams in the Eastern Division.
Ruotolo and Denis Hamlett gave the Splash a 2-0 lead.
The score was tied, 2-2, at halftime and Carolina led, 4-3, after three quarters. Ruotolo tied the score at 4-4, and Paul Ratcliffe tied it at 5-5.
Notes
Dallas lost, 8-5, to Washington. Monterrey defeated Pittsburgh, 17-6. Sacramento defeated Portland, 7-2; and San Diego defeated Detroit, 10-2. . . . Goalie Jorge Valenzuela’s third save against the Vipers was the 1,000th of his professional career. He finished with 10 saves, giving him 1,007.
