Salsa Easily Defeats Ft. Lauderdale : Soccer: Strategy in the first half leads to 5-1 victory and second place in standings.

The Salsa took advantage of timely scheduling and a slumping opponent to move into second place by beating Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday night at Titan Stadium.

The Salsa, winners of five of their last six games, defeated the Strikers, 5-1, before 2,852 in an American Professional Soccer League game.

The loss was the eighth in a row for the last-place Strikers (3-9). The victory moved the Salsa (8-6) past Montreal in the standings. The Salsa next travels to Montreal for a game Friday against the Impact.

“With Montreal idle tonight, we knew we had to win to put ourselves in a good position for Friday,” said Salsa Coach Rick Davis. “Now the pressure is on them come Friday.”

The ease of the Salsa’s victory Wednesday night was somewhat surprising because the previous two meetings between the teams were decided by shootouts.

The Salsa won the first game, 1-0, and Sockers took the second, 3-2.

“They have changed their team a lot,” Salsa forward Paul Wright said. “They just need some time to gel.”

Wright led the Salsa’s attack, scoring two goals, but Paulinho started the scoring with a goal in the 21st minute. Omid Namazi added the assist on Paulinho’s goal.

Thor Lee scored two minutes after Paulinho, then Wright’s first goal came seconds before halftime.

“In the past, we weren’t getting the breaks early on,” Davis said. “Tonight, we followed up on our opportunities and put them away. Also we got some big saves early. We just set ourselves up in the first 20 minutes.”

Salsa goalie Mike Littman made three saves in the game, two in the half. On several occasions, the Strikers had excellent scoring opportunities but misplayed them.

Wright added his second goal in the 56th minute. He took a pass from Yari Allmutt from about 30 yards and dribbled past defender Juan Castillo. He then sent a shot over the left shoulder of goalie Jim St. Andre.

Ft. Lauderdale’s John Doyle scored in the 69th minute and the Salsa’s Ray Fernandez ended the scoring with a goal in the 78th minute.