Hite’s two-goal effort sends Shadow past Rangers

University High School star Brett Hite spent two seasons sitting on the bench for the Spokane Shadow. Guess that third season’s a charm.

Hite scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season and set up another as the Shadow remained undefeated and in first place in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division with a 3-2 win over the Abbotsford Rangers on Saturday night at Joe Albi Stadium.

After a lackluster first-half performance, Spokane scored three times in the second half to twice turn around one-goal deficits before Hite’s goal in the 78th minute secured the win.

“Obviously, it was a better second half than first half,” head coach Stuart Saunders said. “We were poor in the first half and then kind of came alive in the second.”

The first half saw the Shadow pick up right where they left off in Friday’s 1-1 draw against Yakima: lacking fluidity and allowing a clearly inferior team to hang around.

In fact, despite playing their second consecutive game with just one sub, the Rangers (1-5) were up 1-0 at halftime after James Giebelhaus found space on the left side of the penalty area and ripped a right-footed volley past Shadow keeper Kris Wright.

“I think a lot of times we come out with maybe a soft start in the first half,” defender Rob Anderson said. “And we know that we should do better. That’s three or four games now where we’ve been down at halftime, and that’s unacceptable.”

But Spokane did what it has done so often this season – come out of the gates firing and score quickly in the second half.

Just 8 minutes after the break, Hite connected with Garth Cummings, who was returning from a two-game suspension following a red card against Yakima on May 16, in the Rangers’ penalty area. Cummings held off two defenders and sent a shot through the legs of Abbotsford goalie Chris Cecil.

But the Rangers got a goal against the run of play in the 57th minute.

Cummings was called for a foul about 25 yards from his own goal. Simon Crocker sent an inswinging ball into the left side of the Shadow penalty box. With the defense shifted over, it bounced around in a crowd and was sent back to the front of the net where a wide open Sean Crocker knocked it home into the open net.

That could have given the Rangers the momentum if it weren’t for Hite.

Right off the kickoff, Hite dribbled the ball past one defender, beat two more, cut toward the middle of the field past a fourth defender, held off a fifth and ripped an unstoppable blast into the upper right corner of the net for his sixth goal of the year.

“I just kept dribbling and (the defenders) kept falling in the right places,” Hite said. “In the end, it looked like there was an open spot and I just hit it.”

Hite then set up three more near-misses, the first by substitute Jake Moug, who latched onto Hite’s pass only for Cecil to come out and knock the ball away in the 60th minute.

Two minutes later, Hite sent in Cummings, who chipped it over Cecil, only to have it bounce wide of the post.

In the 74th minute, Cummings just missed again, pushing the ball barely wide of the left post after Hite and midfielder John Palladino, who has been entrenching himself as the anchor in the Shadow midfield, connected on a nifty give-and-go.

But Hite made sure of the win off a mishit from Rob Anderson in the 78th minute. The ball bounced to Spokane defender Anderson about 10 yards into his own half. Anderson saw Hite, then sent a 40-yard ball over the top of the defenders. Hite ran on to it, ran 10 yards with a defender on his hip, then blasted a shot that ricocheted off the chest of Cecil and had just enough juice to bounce over the goalline.

The Shadow, 5-0-1 on the season with 16 points, now turn their attention to the Sacramento Knights in a U.S. Open Cup first round matchup Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Joe Albi.