Splash Beats Sockers in Opener
It was a big play at the time, and it played out to be the game’s big play, the one with 16 seconds left in the first half of the Splash’s 6-5 Continental Indoor Soccer League playoff victory over San Diego.
Goalkeeper Ruben Fernandez, coming out of the goal mouth to force San Diego’s John Olu Molomo to his right, created enough of a nuisance that Molomo fell to the ground and couldn’t even fire off a shot.
No shot, no goal.
Fernandez’s big play on the shootout to end the first half was part of a major defensive effort by the Splash, which took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series that began Friday at The Pond in front of an announced crowd of 9,810.
The series continues Sunday at the Sports Arena in San Diego. Game 3, if necessary, will be played at The Pond on Tuesday.
Fernandez finished with 12 saves, but was a bit player in a game that had stars from the top of the lineup to the bottom.
Nine Splash players had points; only two--Jose Vasquez and Bernie Lilavois had as many as two.
Denis Hamlett and Sean Bowers had four blocks apiece, Bobby Bruch’s first goal in 13 months got the Splash on the board after falling behind, 3-0, and the defense prevented Molomo--one of the league’s most outstanding offensive powers--from dictating the pace of the game.
The Splash scored five consecutive goals after trailing, 3-0, and got a goal from Vasquez 2 minutes 11 seconds into the fourth quarter for the deciding margin. The defense held off a sixth-attacker charge over the final 2:59.
“We came out a little too wound up--that was the reason for the slow start,” said Lilavois, whose goal cut the deficit to 3-2 and whose assist to Armando Valdivia gave the Splash its first lead, 4-3, at 5:31 in the third quarter. “Ruben’s play on the shootout stopped the momentum swing they had; it was almost as if we knew the gods were with us.”
Molomo was two for four on shootouts this year, and after Fernandez’s play with 16 seconds left in the half, the defense killed the final 1:44 of the power play to open the third quarter.
Sean Bowers’ unassisted goal on a corner kick made it 5-3 before San Diego scored twice in a two-minute span in the third and fourth quarters--once scoring on a power play.
But Vasquez’s game-winning goal came 50 seconds after the Sockers’ Diego Terry had tied the game.
“When we were down, 3-0, nobody lost their cool--especially the veterans,” Vasquez said. “We just work one goal at a time--we didn’t try to tie the game, 3-3, right away.”
