Salsa Moves Into the Playoffs on Winning Note
Paul Wright finished the American Professional Soccer League regular season with his second consecutive two-goal game Sunday night in Titan Stadium, lifting the Salsa to a 2-0 victory over Colorado.
With the victory, the Salsa ends up in second place in the APSL and gains the home-field advantage in the semifinal playoff series against Montreal, beginning at 4:30 p.m. (PDT) Friday in Montreal. Game 2 of the playoff series will begin at 6:05 p.m. Sunday in Titan Stadium.
In the other semifinal series, Colorado will play Seattle (14-6), which finished first in the regular season. The top team in the regular season meets the fourth-place team and the second-place team plays the third-place team.
The Salsa and Colorado, each with 12-8 records, split their four-game series this season with two victories each. Montreal also compiled a 12-8 record, but claimed third with more points than Colorado, the defending APSL champion.
Wright’s two goals also gave him his first APSL scoring title over teammate Paulinho. Both players finished with 27 points, but Wright takes top honors because he had one more goal. Wright had 12 goals and three assists; Paulinho had 11 goals and five assists.
The league’s Most Valuable Player is still undecided, and Salsa Coach Rick Davis says he would have trouble choosing between Wright and Paulinho, who won it last season.
“Paulinho does so much for our team,” Davis said. “When we were struggling earlier in the season, Paulinho was struggling, but when Paulinho came into form, we came into form.
“You have to consider Wright because he’s been so consistent for us, and look at the way he’s played in the late stages of the season.”
Wright also scored two goals Wednesday night, including a last-second game-winner, in the Salsa’s 3-2 victory over Vancouver.
Wright thinks the addition to the team this month of Hugo Perez, who played for the United States in this summer’s World Cup, also has been a key factor in his goal surge.
“Hugo has opened up a lot of stuff for me,” Wright said. “That’s had a lot to do with it.”
Davis agrees. “Hugo has definitely made a difference,” he said. “This becomes an opposing team’s nightmare with three scorers like those three. You can sometimes stop one scorer, maybe two, but not three. Those three guys are as good as any three players in this league.”
Davis also said Perez has now made the Salsa “the most talented team in the league.”
The Salsa had 15 shots on goal compared to Colorado’s five, all in the first half. Neither team scored in the first half, although the Salsa missed on several good opportunities.
Wright scored the match’s first goal on a penalty kick in the 66th minute, then added his second on an assist from Zak Ibsen in the 79th minute.
Midfielder Thor Lee and defender Danny Pena will miss the Salsa’s first game of the playoffs because of yellow cards in the game. The Salsa’s Michael N’Doumbe missed Sunday’s match after receiving the mandatory one-game suspension for getting his fourth yellow in Wednesday night’s victory at Vancouver.
The Salsa is 0-3 against Montreal this season, but Davis is hopeful.
“This team has been showing how good it really is,” Davis said. “For the last three or four weeks we’ve been healthy. We played Montreal three times before early August, and that was before the team hit its form.”
