Storm Couldn’t Keep Up With DCU
A youthful Deportivo Coras U.S.A. U23 (DCU) side capitalized on a shambolic Santa Clarita Storm defense for come-from-behind, 4-1 victory Sunday evening at La Sierra University in Riverside, California.
The Storm opened the first leg of their second round fixture for the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) Admiral Cup strong scoring in the 17th minute when Zach Klindworth passed to Brett Croft who made quick work of a poor defensive construction to put the ball in the back of the net. Yet the Storm faltered shortly before half time never regaining their form.
Storm coach Oscar Moreno was disappointed in his side’s performance having high expectation for the club. “When we got the ball their defenders were very quick and fast anticipating the play before we could put a shot on goal.” Said Moreno after his team’s lackluster performance against DCU as his offense was no where to be found. “My players I was counting on did not have a good day they did not click and our midfield was under pressure all night. We lost our morale and it was over for us.”
DCU scored a tying goal in the 29th minute. The Storm opened second half with no pressure playing with out energy or applying pressure giving up the middle of the field to the DCU attack. In the 60th minute DCU began to hint at their dominance by taking a lead of 1-2 from a corner the Storm keep Kyle Cunningham could not stop. It did not take long for the Storm to show poorer defending as DCU earned a penalty kick eight minutes later on the vulnerable Storm side that was reeling. DCU converted the goal in the 68th minute making the score 1-3 and kicking off the rout the Storm.
With 15 minutes left, in a match dominated by DCU the Storm midfield was besieged again giving up the last goal in the 75th minute with the Storm side demoralized after being swarmed upon by DCU. The midfield was controlled by DCU as they seemed to be a step quicker than the drained Storm side. The DCU side stayed on top of the Storm applying the pressure getting one step closer to playing in the 3rd round fixture.
“We will go over our mistakes, as we have a friendly to work on our mistakes and improvement in the next game (against DCU). Said Moreno has been faced with this type of deficit before. “Its game and you never know till the game is over, so I ask my players to play hard. We still have 90 minutes and anything can happen, they may have a bad day and we have a good day and things change if we want to continue in this competition.”
The Storm and DCU will square off again on April the 19th hosted by Golden Valley High School when DCU travels to Santa Clarita for the final game of their 2nd round fixture. The Storm obviously find themselves with a long odds ahead needing to win big if they have any hope of keeping their Admiral Cup dreams alive.
The Storm will play a friendly match against the UAV Pioneers on April 17th as a tune-up to their final match against DCU as they look for answers on how to advance.
Article & Photo © 2015 Malik Basurto
