San Fernando Valley Quakes Press Release - www.quakessoccer.com
Friday, July 11, 2008
WOODLAND HILLS, CA - The San Fernando Valley Quakes out-fought, out-shot, and out-played the 10-man Los Angeles Legends at Pierce College in Woodland Hills Thursday night, coming away with an impressive 3-1 victory that keeps them well in the hunt for the playoffs.
Despite the late venue change, almost 150 fans turned out on a beautiful evening at John Shepard Stadium to see the Quakes take their revenge over the Los Angeles Legends side that beat them 5-0 down in Azusa in May. Head Coach Juan Florez, still reeling from the atrocious refereeing decision that robbed them of three points in Lancaster on July 4th, and without captain Mat Davis who was still suffering from a hamstring injury, nevertheless named a strong squad to start a vitally important game.
With the Legends in their attractive black, white and gold uniforms, and with the Quakes in their change strip of white shirts and black shorts, the game started with the usual tentative ’sounding out’ period, with both teams seeking to establish a foothold in the game. However, before the game had chance to develop any real rhythm, the Legends were reduced to 10 men when midfielder Andrew Villalobos was given a straight red card by referee Adam Brugman after a horrendous high tackle on Chad Borak.
The Quakes began to assert their one man advantage almost immediately, and for the remainder of the half the Quakes laid siege to the Legends goal. In the end, it was a stellar performance by Legends ’keeper Brent Douglas that kept them in the game. He made four outstanding saves to keep the Quakes out, twice thwarting Devin Deldo when he was through running on goal and seemed destined to score. In addition to Deldo’s four shots, Ryan Shaw went close twice, and Diego Barrera saw his 30-yard drive from Quakes corner parried by Douglas. It was enormously frustrating for the Quakes, who generally out-played their opponents in all parts of the field - so complete was the Quakes dominance that the Legends did not register a single shot on goal in the first half, and Quakes keeper Kevin Guppy did not have to make a single save. Nevertheless, the score remained 0-0 at half time.
Keen to capitalize on their numerical advantage, Coach Florez brought on defender Robert Pate, mercurial midfielder Jason Leopoldo and powerful striker Maxwell Griffin at half time (replacing Esquivel, Agwu and Shaw), and almost immediately their influence was felt. Leopoldo began dancing through the Legends defense, twisting and turning, bamboozling the back line, and it was that sense of confusion which allowed the Quakes to score their first goal. Sung Hyun Kim, penetrating down the left hand side, sent a perfect cross into Devin Deldo, who slotted the ball home for his fifth goal of the season.
The Quakes continued to press, looking for a killer goal. Leopoldo continued to torment Legends defender Joey Pacheco down the right hand side, delivering several dangerous crosses, and even sending a vicious shot towards goal which, unfortunately, flew high and wide of the frame. Max Griffin was equally dangerous, and often found himself running at the Legends defense. Defenders Brad Rusin and Matt Tracy also regularly got in on the action, thundering forward with power and purpose to support the forward line.
The Quakes doubled their lead with 20 minutes to go on a superb solo effort from Devin Deldo who found himself in the clear and running full-speed at the Legends goal. When his first shot was parried by Legends keeper Douglas, Deldo simply gathered up the rebound and accurately placed the ball past the prostrate goaltender. His sixth goal of the season was one of his best, and capped a memorable performance on the night for him.
Coach Florez gave young striker Josh Ault his Quakes debut with 10 minutes to go, replacing Deldo, who left the field to a hearty round of applause. Ault impressed greatly in his few minutes on the field, complementing Leopoldo’s speed and trickery with a great deal of speed and trickery of his own; he registered two shots on goal within moments of entering the field, and looked strong and confident on the ball. However, it was Chad Borak who stepped up and stole the show with just moments remaining in the game. Having recovered fully from the atrocious red card challenge in the first half, Borak received a simple ball around the center circle; with a kick of acceleration, he sped past two static Legends midfielders, looked up, and launched a 35-yard thunderbolt which was past goalkeeper Douglas and in the back of the net before he could react. It was a superb finale to an excellent performance, and although substitute David Barnett pulled a consolation goal back for the Legends in injury time, nothing could take the shine off an important, impressive 90 minutes for the Quakes.
The win moves the Quakes up one place, into fifth in the Southwest Division standings, but equal on points with Ventura and San Francisco in 3rd and 4th, and only one point behind 2nd place Legends, over whom they have a game in hand. It’s all incredibly tight at the top of the division, and all the teams will have everything to play for in the final three games of the season.
The Quakes now travel to Fresno on Saturday, July 12th, where they will take on first place Fresno Fuego, the reigning divisional champions, for the first time this year; the next home game for the Quakes is on Thursday, July 17th, when they take on the visiting Ventura County Fusion, again at Pierce College. Kickoff is at 7:05 p.m.
