Second-Half Surge Propels Shadow Past 86Ers Pep Talk Gives Spokane Wake-Up Call On Its Way To 3-1 Win Over Vancouver
It took a little pep talk at the half and the Spokane Shadow managed to get up and go Saturday night at Albi Stadium.
After a scoreless first half, the Shadow came out and scored in the first minute of the second half en route to a 3-1 win over the Vancouver 86ers before 1,490 soccer fans.
The goal was set up by Craig Waibel, who made a long run and found Simeon Enemuo from about 10 yards out. Enemuo, nursing a shin injury most of the season, chipped in the shot past Vancouver keeper Didar Sandhu.
“It took us a while to get adjusted because they played a different system. They played three up front and we weren’t used to that,” said Shadow coach Sean Bushey, whose team improved to 3-0 against USISL Northwest Division Premier League opponents.
About 20 minutes later, at 67 minutes, the Shadow padded their lead to 2-0 when the red-hot scoring machine Brian Ching hit an unassisted goal. Ching had his first shot blocked. But he got off another shot that deflected off an opposing defender. The ball landed in the back corner.
“It was a messed-up play,” explained Ching, who was credited with an assist on the Shadow’s final goal. “I tried to pass it to Craig (Waibel) coming through, but it bounced off the defender and luckily it came right back to me.”
Ching has been more than lucky this season. He leads the team with 17 points. Saturday night, he moved from his usual forward position to an attacking center midfielder.
“He’s hard to contain,” Bushey said. “He seems to always pose problems.”
The Shadow increased their lead to 3-0 at the 88-minute mark.
Ching, coming from the top of the penalty area, passed off to Kenny Krestian and the two connected on a perfectly executed giveand-go.
“They’ve got a good team,” said 86ers coach Dale Mitchell, whose club lost to Yakima Friday night and dropped to 0-4. “They’ve been together for a while and that’s the advantage they have over us.
“We’re basically a select team that comes together for the weekends.”
However, the 86ers, one of four new Northwest Division provisional teams, gave the Shadow their toughest league battle in three weeks. Spokane came into the contest with back-to-back 7-0 league victories. Their only loss in that time was 1-0 to the A-League Seattle Sounders.
Shadow keeper Josh Fouts was looking for his third straight league shutout, but was denied in the final minute when Spokane defender Stuart Saunders missed an assignment, allowing Vancouver’s Chris Jarvie to score an open-netter.
Spokane took 12 shots to Vancouver’s six. Fouts stopped two and Sandhu had eight saves.