St Louis Lions News Release - www.stllions.com

 

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

 

KANSAS CITY, MO -- The St. Louis Lions played their cross state rivals, the Kansas City Brass in Liberty, Missouri on Wednesday night and made the return trek down Highway 70 with three valuable points in a 2-1 win.  This was the first road win for the Lions this season and only the second defeat for the second place Brass.

Brenton Saylor who was making his second start in goal for the Lions could only watch when a strike from the outside the area from Brass forward Matt Blouin rattled the bar in the 9th minute.

It seems that the Lions are making a habit of scoring late goals in a half, with last Sunday’s equalizer in the final minute being an example.  At the William Jewel College field, the clock hadn’t quite ticked down to the final minutes but it was close enough.  In the 44th minute Nick Machovec on the left side of the field received a pass from Chris Anzalone with his back to the goal.  Machovec found himself under pressure and back heeled the ball between a defender’s leg which to Jeremiah Essmyer, who dribbled the ball into the Kansas City penalty area and set up the ball for Lawrence Olum to slot in with the inside of his foot for his 3rd goal of the season.

“The build up for the first goal was excellent,” stated Coach Tony Glavin.  “All the players involved did exceptionally well.  Jeremiah dribbled perfectly in to their goal box and it was a great finish by Lawrence.”

The Lions went into the half time break leading the Brass by the single goal.

St. Louis got off to a quick start in the second half and their endeavors paid off. Again it started down the left side with a cross into the Kansas City penalty area by Bonacker who had received the ball from Nick Machovec.  The ball was met by the Lions leading scorer Lawrence Olum who unleashed a volley that put the ball into the back of the net past Adam Sokilowski the stranded Brass goalkeeper.

“Our second goal was one of the best of the season, the way Lawrence finished it off, he took it very well, a great cross in to the Kansas City penalty area by Nick Bonacker and Lawrence was there to finish it off with a great volley into the back of the net,” said Glavin.

In the 60th minute the Lions had a very good chance to increase their lead when Machovec found Miles Abel unmarked in the penalty area but Abel managed to put the ball over the crossbar.

“Miles had a great chance to score, all he had to do was tap the ball into the net but somehow he managed to put the ball over the bar” said Glavin, who added “At that point in the game I feel a third goal would have killed the Brass off.”

Kansas City halved the score in the 75th minute when Blouin who had hit the bar in the first half managed to put the ball in the back of the net.

Just as the Lions have been scoring late goals, the have also been giving up goals late in the half, and it was almost the case on Wednesday night.  In injury time Brass forward Ryan Kaufman had a good chance to salvage a point for the home team but his header from ten yards out was saved by goalkeeper Brenton Saylor.

“Saylor had a very good game, I’m very pleased with his performance, he made the saves he had to make,” said Glavin.  “We made a few changes in the lineup from the previous games to try something new.  Nick Bonacker and Nick Machovec gave us good balance on the left side, in fact both were involved in the winning goal.  Another change was Lawrence Olum and Chris Anzalone playing behind Jeremiah Essmyer, who was playing as the striker, that worked well, giving Olum the freedom to go forward.”

“The whole team played really well, for long stretches we dominated the game”, responded Glavin. “It was a much better performance than Sunday’s game ( a 2-2 home tie with West Michigan Edge ), we just need to build on what we achieved this game.”

The Lions are now 2-3-2 for the season and they are hopeful that the game at 5pm on Sunday June 17th will provide them with their third win of the season.  The loyal fans of the St. Louis Lions will be rewarded on the Sunday June 17 game against the Thunder Bay Chill from Canada when each fan will receive a 10” by 15” color photograph of the St. Louis Lions Team.  The entire team will be available to autograph the team photo upon completion of the game at the Tony Glavin Soccer Complex in Cottleville, MO.