Loss In The Cards Bay Area Entry Ousts Shorthanded Spokane

The Spokane Shadow’s Cocoa Beach dream went Cocoa Puff, but not without a fight.

Spokane’s amazing first full season of competition in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues came to a controversial end on a beautiful Sunday evening when the San Francisco Bay Seals pulled out a 3-2 victory at Spokane Falls Community College.

With the win in the finals of the Western Conference Northern Division finals, the Seals (17-5) advance to the USISL Premier League championships in Cocoa Beach, Fla., next weekend.

“That was a heartbreaker,” Shadow coach Einar Thorarinsson said. “We were the better team from minute 1 to minute 90. It’s tough to play with two men down.”

The Shadow battled a man short from 12-1/2 minutes into the game because of an ill-advised and, considering the magnitude of the game, questionable red card, then played the last 31-1/2 minutes two men down because of another red card.

“We got homered at home,” said veteran defenseman Stuart Rose, whose brilliant header off a corner kick by Zane Higgins gave the Shadow, which finished 18-4, a 1-0 lead 7 minutes into the game.

“You don’t want to come in and say the referee hurt you, maybe some of the fouls should have been called, but he kind of swayed the game. Even the San Francisco players on the field were saying the same thing, the calls were not being consistent.”

Basically, everyone associated with the Shadow, including 1,408 fans, agreed.

Thorarinsson labeled the calls questionable and inconsistent.

“We’ve always come back,” he added. “Even two men down, we kept attacking. That’s the character of the team, never give up.”

The Shadow controlled the physical, intense game against the defending division champions from the outset, despite going against a strong, warm breeze. By staying on the attack, the Shadow kept the Seals from utilizing their speed. That continued after Saunders’ first goal of the season until Dave Berto was ejected for tripping a rival player from behind 5 minutes later.

Referee Neil Pinski and the other officials would not explain the call, made on a play 15 yards behind the action, but gave the Shadow permission to share their copy of the game report.

Officially, Berto was red-carded for “violent conduct away from the ball.”

Still, Spokane hung on until Chris McDonald tied the game a minute before halftime. His shot, after a pass from Mike Black, hit the left post, caromed to the right post and rolled into the goal.

Black scored on a free kick from about 23 yards 12 minutes into the second half and, just 2 minutes later, Stuart Rose of the Shadow was sent to the locker room with his second yellow card, which automatically becomes a red card.

The official report said the second card was for “persistent infringement of the rules after receiving a (first) yellow card.”

“Obviously, you have to make big changes,” Saunders said. “We chose to switch on defense and go man-to-man. I’m surprised they didn’t try to attack us more. It was more difficult. We don’t normally mark up man-to-man, and in that case, we had to.”

Spokane kept attacking and, amazingly, tied the game with 9 minutes left. After Kierian Barton sent a corner kick to the back post, Joe Ascolese kept the ball alive. The ball bounced back to Chad Brown at about 18 yards, and Brown drilled it through the crowd and into the net.

Less than 3 minutes later, the Seals capitalized on their manpower advantage. Black headed the ball to Rob Bonta, who sent a 30-yard pass across the goal to McDonald for the easy game-winner.

“I was really impressed with Spokane,” San Francisco Bay coach Tom Simpson said. “I was impressed with their will to win, their will to compete with a man down and their desire to protect their own goal, even though they were down numbers.

“It would have been a different game (11 on 11). It’s hard to predict, but it would have been more fun for us. I don’t like to play a man up … it can lead to a feeding frenzy. We should have been more disciplined when we got up by two (players).”

Seals 3, Shadow 2

First half - 1, Spokane, Saunders (Higgins), 7:00. 2, San Francisco, McDonald (Black), 43:00. Second half - 3, San Francisco, Black, 55:00. 4, Spokane, Brown (Ascolese), 80:00. 5, San Francisco, McDonald (Bonta), 83:00.

Shots on goal - San Francisco 13, Spokane 12. Saves - San Francisco, Kardzair 5. Spokane, May 4.

A - 1,408.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo