Saturday, August 10, 2002
WEST YARMOUTH, MA -- Like a script straight out of Hollywood, two improbable teams took the field for the Premier Development League Championship Saturday night at Alan R. Carlsen Stadium in West Yarmouth, Mass. The eighth-seeded Cape Cod Crusaders raised the cup before a standing-room only crowd of 2,239 fans with a 2-1 golden goal overtime victory off the foot of Casey Schmidt, who battled all night trying to find the back of the net against the visiting 11th-seeded Boulder Rapids Reserve.
The match started at a fever pitch as both teams put their speed to immediate use trying to strike first. Boulder held the edge in the early stages of the match with several dangerous scoring opportunities but were unable to find the back of the net with numerous shots either missing just wide or being blocked by the Cape Cod defense.
The first half finished scoreless with Boulder holding the edge in shots 6-3. The second half proved even more furious with 17 shots as both teams pushed to capture the league title.
Moments after Schmidt had produced his third scoring chance of the second half, Cape Cod’s Eric Reed finally broke the stalemate in the 58th minute on a stunning goal. Reed stole the ball as Boulder was moving out of its end and launched a shot from 30 yards out that caught Boulder goalkeeper Curtis Spiteri off his line and ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal.
Boulder continued to create chances only to see the Cape Cod defenders snuff their shots before reaching the goal, but in the 73rd minute Jason Thompson finally struck gold.
With the ball on the right flank, Jaqua sent a low ball across the six-yard box and Thompson, outstretching his marker, knocked it home from four yards out at the far post to level the score at 1-1.
Schmidt nearly provided the winner in the 86th when his 16-yard shot was tipped just over the crossbar by Spiteri. At the other end, Cape Cod goalkeeper Troy Perkins fended off several late attempts by Boulder in the final few minutes of regulation to send the match to overtime where Schmidt would finally hit paydirt.
Nine minutes into the extra frame, Cape Cod caught the Boulder defense napping on a corner kick, which the Crusaders had shown no threat with throughout the game in their six previous attempts.
Just after the short corner had been stopped on the left, Bryan Harkin regathered the ball and sent it to the far side to defender Scott Palgutta, who was unmarked just inside the penalty area. Palgutta laid the ball off to Schmidt who managed to squeeze the ball through a pack of bodies and into the back of the net, sending the Cape Cod faithful into an immediate celebration and giving the Crusaders their first overtime victory in six attempts on the year.
“The game could have gone either way,” said Cape Cod Head Coach Paul Turner. “Boulder was by far the best team that we had faced this year and our boys showed a lot of character. No team deserved to lose tonight.”
When the regular season came to a close, not many expected the Rapids Reserve and Crusaders to be in the final. But a storybook opening round to the playoffs saw all eight division champions falling in the conference playoffs, opening the door for the two small-town clubs.
Cape Cod advanced from the same Northeast Division that produced last season’s champion Westchester Flames, and Boulder came from the strong Central Conference, which saw eight teams finish above .500 on the season.
The matchup was intriguing with a smaller-sized higher seed playing host to the much larger and physical Rapids Reserve, who boast a number of U.S. National Team Youth players.
“Right before the game I told the team that we had a great season and not have a let down out there tonight.” In a game that could have gone to either team, “the crowd really gave us a lift,” added Turner, who thought the two teams did the league proud on the night.
The Rapids Reserve saw their first good chance nine minutes in when Boulder recovered the ball at midfield and immediately played it forward to Thompson, who was running in on goal all alone. Perkins, however, charged out and dove at Thompson’s feet as he attempted to get the shot off. Thompson nearly got a second chance at it as the ball deflected straight up, but his momentum had carried him a foot too far in front of the ball to get his head fully under it and Perkins recovered to gather the loose ball.
Thompson, who returned to the country two nights earlier and joined the team the night before after a successful week with the U23 National Team in England in which he tallied two goals and an assist, threatened the Crusaders goal again just three minutes later. Charging up the left side, Erik Cronkrite sent the ball to Nate Jaqua in the middle. Running up the center, Jaqua layed the ball off to Thompson, who worked parallel to the top of the penalty area before turning and firing a shot just wide.
At the 30-minute mark, Thompson nearly set up the go-ahead goal after getting ball in the box with his back to goal. He turned, ran to end line and, despite being marked by two Cape Cod players, managed to squeeze ball through six-yard box and by Perkins. The ball proved just out of range for the easy tap in at the far post.
In one of Cape Cod’s most dangerous chances of the first half, Schmidt broke away in the 33rd minute down the left side, but with a Boulder defender tracking back on the play and Spiteri closing down the angle he missed the shot just wide of the far post.
The match was only the second championship game in USL’s PDL/amateur history to go beyond regulation time. The Greensboro Dynamo topped the Minnesota Thunder in a shootout after finishing tied 1-1 in 1994.
In the end, you couldn’t chastise anyone for mistaking the live broadcast on Fox Sports World for the airing of the soccer version of Summer Catch, last year’s sports romance movie based on the Cape Cod baseball league. Thompson and Schmidt took on the roles of leading men, providing plenty of excitement on the night.
It was the supporting player, however, Felix Brilliant who walked away with the Most Valuable Player hardware for his role in the thrilling match. Brilliant, despite being one of the smallest players on the pitch, masterfully controlled the midfield, setting up Schmidt and the Cape Cod attack throughout the night.
Game Summary
Boulder Rapids Reserve 1 :: 2 Cape Cod Crusaders – OT
CC: Reed 58
BOU: Thompson (Jaqua) 73
CC: Schmidt 99
Lineups
Boulder
Curtis Spiteri; David Wagenfuhr, Kevin Wickart, Justin Lowder, Keith Burden (Aaron Heinzen 64); Nat Borchers, Todd Dunivant, Erik Cronkrite,Scott Bowman (Roy Fink 70) ; Nate Jaqua, Jason Thompson
Cape Cod
Troy Perkins; Marty McNutt, Paul Chase, Scott Palgutta; Bryan Harkin, Methembe Ndlovu, Felix Brilliant (Connor Lander 96), Luke Vercollone, Ian Pilarski (Phil Flakes 80); Casey Schmidt, Eric Reed (Nicola Chicco 64)
Team Statistics (BOU :: CC)
Shots 16 :: 13
Saves 6 :: 15
Fouls 22 :: 21
Offsides 0 :: 1
Corners 8 :: 7
PDL Championship MVP: Felix Brilliant, Cape Cod
