Spokane Overshadows Yakima Once Again
The Spokane Shadow have been playing like the premier of the Premier League all season, and Saturday night was no exception.
After beating the second-place team in their division Friday on the road, the first-place Shadow played host to the same Yakima Reds Saturday and came away with a 4-0 decision.
“We’re playing well,” said Shadow coach Sean Bushey, whose USISL Northwest Division Premier League team improved to 11-2 and all but locked up its third consecutive division title. “What we’re gearing for is the playoffs. We’re just trying to position ourselves and we’ve got to play well at that time.”
Saturday’s game - played before 2,116 spectators in Albi Stadium - featured the Shadow’s balanced attack with Chad Brown, Kieran Barton, Jeff McAllister and Simeon Enemuo scoring.
Brian Ching, the Premier League’s top scorer, did not play because of a foot injury suffered late in Friday’s 3-1 win at Yakima. Defender Stuart Saunders also was out. He has a knee injury.
“It made no difference,” said Yakima coach Greg Sambrano, whose team dropped to 8-4 with four regular-season games remaining. “The way we played today, it didn’t matter at all.
“I think our team is as good as their team. We just didn’t show it this weekend.”
But they did show frustration, especially visible in keeper Derek Collins. The former Whitworth College player faced 13 shots and had two saves. He was scored on three times in the first half and once in the final 3 minutes when Enemuo, starting in place of Ching, knocked in a 17-yarder.
Brown scored the first goal at 13:00 on a penalty kick after Zach Kingsley put a shot on Collins. The Yakima keeper pulled Kingsley down and the referee brought out a yellow flag.
Kingsley, a U19 developmental player who earlier played the first 7 minutes of the Inland Empire East-West High School All-Star game, also contributed to the second goal. At 29:00, the recent Shadle Park High School graduate crossed the ball to McAllister, who was right of the box. McAllister passed to Barton, who blasted his second goal of the weekend past Collins.
McAllister added to the score 8 minutes later when he caught the Yakima defenders looking for an offside call off Brown’s pass. After a brief hesitation- and no whistle - McAllister casually rolled a shot into the net for his 10th goal of the season.
Shadow keeper Josh Fouts enjoyed a quiet night for his sixth shutout of the year and lowered his league-leading goals-against average to 0.85.
Shadow 4, Yakima 0
First half - 1, Spokane, Brown (penalty kick), 13:00. none. 2, Spokane, Barton (McAllister), 29:00. 3, Spokane, McAllister (Brown), 38:00. Second half 4, Spokane, Enemuo, 87:00- none. Shots on goal - Yakima 9. Spokane 13. Saves - Yakima, Collins 2. Spokane, Fouts 2.