Crush deal Shadow first PDL defeat

SALEM, Ore. – Andriy Budnyy tallied two goals and an assist and Pedro Figueiredo-de Sousa added a goal and an assist as the Cascade Surge cruised to a 4-2 victory over the undermanned Spokane Shadow on Sunday at McCulloch Stadium on the campus of Willamette University.

The Surge (6-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead and handed the Shadow (6-1-1) their first loss in Premier Development League play this season. Spokane leads second-place Cascade by one point in the standings.

“This was something we knew had to happen sometime,” said Shadow assistant coach Kieran Barton. “We weren’t going to go undefeated in the PDL, even if we’d love to have done that. There are just too many competitive teams to have one team always dominate the others.”

Barton said the Shadow weren’t playing at full strength because of player scheduling difficulties.

“We brought fourteen guys to play Yakima on Friday night and had only 13 guys against Cascade,” noted Barton. “Several of our players had bumps and bruises and others had school commitments, which meant they couldn’t make the trip.”

The Shadow averted the shutout with a pair of late goals.

John Pallidino, with an assist from Ben Sawyer, scored Spokane’s first goal in the 87th minute and Jake Moug added the final tally 2 minutes later.

Spokane returns home to take on the Abbotsford Rangers on Saturday night at 7 at Joe Albi Stadium.