Shadow bounced in overtime
FRESNO — Another year, another first-round playoff loss for the Spokane Shadow.
Tom Poltl scored 10 minutes into overtime as the Orange County Blue Star upended the Spokane Shadow 3-2 in the Premier Development League’s Western Conference semifinals Friday.
The loss marked the third consecutive year the Shadow have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
“I wouldn’t say we were outstanding, but it’s not like we played poorly and walked away from it,” Shadow head coach Stuart Saunders said. “The disappointing thing is this is one more year of the same result. We’d like to see one go our way one of these years, but unfortunately this year it wasn’t going to happen.”
When Spokane forward Garth Cummings scored in the 83rd minute of regulation to tie the game at 2, the momentum seemed to in the Shadow’s favor.
But, just minutes after Spokane goal keeper Shaun Kalnasy made a leaping save to keep the Shadow’s hopes alive, Poltl beat Kalnasy to send the Blue Star (13-3-3) into the Western Conference finals, and the Shadow (11-5-1) home.
“We had done pretty well [in the OT],” Saunders said. “We traded play with them and didn’t create great chances, but we had a couple and weren’t able to get it done.”
Shadow team captain and assistant coach Kieran Barton, a central defender, slammed home his second goal of the season off a free kick just nine minutes into the game.
But Poltl, who led the Blue Star in assists this season, set up midfielder Tyler Theslof in the 14th minute to tie the game, and midfielder Mike Enfield gave Orange County a 2-1 lead just four minutes later.
Cummings sent Spokane a lifeline just seven minutes from the end of regulation, slotting home the tying goal out of a scrum in the middle of the field.
But Calen Carr, the Blue Star’s points leader on the season, set up Poltl for the game-winner.
“I think in the end there were some positives,” Saunders said. “The team did pretty well. We had ups and downs and were able to get through them and put ourselves in a position to do well. … It bodes well for the future with the amount of young guys who played and played very well.”
Forward Brett Hite and midfielder John Palladino were named to the Western Conference’s All-Conference team after the game.
Hite led the Western Conference in scoring and finished the regular season 12th in the PDL in scoring with 14 goals and six assists (34 points).
Palladino, a work-horse who may have been the Shadow’s best player this season, had a goal and an assist on the year but missed significant time with foot and knee injuries. He missed Friday’s game after hurting his right MCL.