Shadow host Rangers tonight

After a hectic week and a half, in which they played five games in ten days, lost their first two matches of the season – including one in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup – and played without a handful of key players, all the Spokane Shadow want is a bit of normalcy.

Hopefully, with just one game on the docket – a match against the lowly Abbotsford Rangers – this weekend will provide that.

“We hope to somewhat get normalcy,” Shadow head coach Stuart Saunders said. “We’ve only got one game this weekend, so that takes some of the pressure off. We got rested over this past week, so with not as many games to play, we should be ready to go this weekend.”

Last weekend was up and down for the Shadow. After winning in Yakima 3-2 last Friday, Spokane traveled to Salem, Ore. on Sunday and suffered its first league loss, a 4-2 setback to the Cascade Surge that was played in wet, slippery conditions.

“The Cascade trip has always been a difficult game for us,” Saunders said. “For whatever reason, we always have a game there that doesn’t go well for us.”

With the Shadow now out of the Open Cup, their focus can shift to maintaining first place in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division. Spokane (6-1-1 in league, 19 points) holds a one-point lead over the Surge (6-2). Abbotsford sits in last place in the division at 1-6-1.

“If we could have gone through the season undefeated, that would have been great,” Saunders said. “But there are so many hiccups throughout the year, a long road trip, players missing, things that just go against you. We’re just looking to be home again and do well at home.”