Kumangai-McGee contributes on offense in Shadow”s victory

Before the beginning of the season, Spokane Shadow head coach Kieran Barton praised defender Lamar Kumangai-McGee for his emergence on the back line.

It was Kumangai-McGee’s offense, though, that lifted the Shadow to a 2-1 win over the Abbotsford Rangers at Joe Albi Stadium on Friday night in front of 631 fans.

Kumangai-McGee got a foot on Scott Campbell’s corner kick, and one-hopped it past Abbotsford goalie Jesse Haagen in the 55th minute for the game-winning goal.

“I think it was Friday the 13th,” said the previously snakebitten Kumangai-McGee, who had an earlier point-blank shot deflected wide and also forced a tough save with a header off a cross. “Finally, I converted in the second half. It’s kind of funny because our first game I had a couple of chances but couldn’t convert. It’s kind of been a joke throughout the week. Luckily, I put one through.”

Barton routinely sends Kumangai-McGee up from his center back position to make plays on free and corner kicks.

“He gets his head on a lot of things,” Barton said. “He had three or four great chances tonight and I think, if we hadn’t come out on top, he’d have been kicking himself. He finally got that monkey off his back when that last one went in.”

Spokane (2-0-0, 6 points) jumped on top of Abbotsford in the eighth minute on a Skye Henderson goal.

Henderson, starting in place of injured midfielder Alex Megson, received a pass from Grant Lundberg 18 yards out on the right side, found himself unmarked, wheeled and drove a shot far post through Haagen’s arms.

Abbotsford (0-2-0, 0 points) came back a minute later when Spencer Schmidt chased down a long pass on the right side and beat Shadow goalie Will Cooper from a tough angle to tie it.

Cooper was making his first start for the Shadow.

“They always tell you that the first few minutes after scoring a goal, you’re most vulnerable,” Barton said. “You’d like to think that’s a time where we could go forward and get another one, but they caught the goalkeeper a little bit by surprise.”

Spokane took control of possession and hoarded the scoring chances at that point, with Kumangai-McGee and forward Brett Hite just missing on a couple of occasions.

“Are we happy that we got two? Yes,” Henderson said. “But we’d be happier if we had three or four.”

Holding off Abbotsford for the final 82 minutes wasn’t too difficult because the Shadow controlled possession, allowing only two shots on goal. It’s allowed the defense to come together a little without too much stress.

“It’s tough,” Kumangai-McGee said. “I come from NIC, we have guys from Whitworth and a senior in high school are starting. We have to communicate, that’s a big part. At this level, you have to do that.”

The Shadow will need to improve tonight against the second-place Cascade Surge (1-0-1, 4 points), who tied Spokane atop the Premier Development League (PDL) Northwest Division standings last year.

“We’re going to have to be better,” Barton said. “I think us and Cascade are the best two teams in the league and it’ll depend on how we play.”