Shadow’s Win Seals Division Title

When the Spokane Shadow have their game faces on, their soccer game is a thing of beauty.

Saturday night the Shadow had their game faces on and the results were beautiful.

The Shadow clinched their second consecutive USISL Premier League Northwest Division title with a 5-1 drubbing of the Yakima Reds before 1,616 fans at Albi Stadium.

Each goal was picture-perfect, with two coming off corner kicks, two on short breakaways and the other on a rocket off the right foot of Craig Waibel.

“They scored early but we didn’t panic and settled in,” first-year coach Sean Bushey said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Spokane settled the issue with a three-goal burst in 6 minutes before and after halftime.

Waibel broke a 1-1 tie with an unassisted blast from 25 yards a minute before the half.

In the first minute of the second half, Dave Berto scored his eighth goal by redirecting Chad Brown’s corner kick with a header. It was only 4 minutes later that Brown led Zane Higgins, who beat keeper Derek Collins to the ball and scored into an open goal.

“We have a real potent offense,” Waibel said. “We have a lot of guys that can do it on their own, but the times we’re the best is when we combine… . The offense is always there. We have killer players up front.”

It was only a night earlier in Yakima that the Reds, the only team with a chance to catch the Shadow, beat Spokane 3-2.

“The difference was mental focus from beginning to end,” Bushey said. “Last night we didn’t come prepared to play… . Psychologically they won the battle. Tonight we stayed focused from kickoff to the end.”

Yakima’s goal, a 25-yarder Jeff Perry sent over Josh Fouts 3 minutes into the game, woke up a defense that struggled a night earlier without injured captain Stuart Saunders.

“We had more composure, we were more organized,” defender Stuart Rose said. “We just bounced back. We knew we could do it. Friday night we came out flat. We wanted more than anything to come out and beat them.”

The Shadow tied the game when Higgins sent a corner kick over the defense to Ryan Edwards, who booted it home in the 15th minute. The final goal game with 6 minutes left when Berto set up Waibel for a breakaway that matched Higgins’ goal.

In a preliminary game, a team of North Idaho All-Stars whipped Eastern Washington 5-0. Ben Davis, Jason Kuska, Jason Campbell, Scott Strobel and Ty Kovatch scored, with David Hill and Chad Barker combining for the shutout.

Shadow 5, Reds 1

First half - 1, Yakima, Perry, unassisted, 3:00. 2, Spokane, Edwards (Higgins) 15:00. 3, Spokane, Waibel, unassisted, 44:00.

Second half - 4, Spokane, Berto (Brown) 46:00. 5, Spokane, Higgins (Brown) 50:00. 6, Spokane, Waibel (Berto) 84:00.

Shots on goal - Yakima 9, Spokane 13. Saves, Collins (Yakima) 4; Fouts (Spokane) 3. Attn. - 1,616.

, DataTimes