Saturday, May 5, 2012
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – The Real Colorado Foxes took their first victory of the season, taking four points from their two-game trip, as they defeated the Des Moines Menace 1-0 at Valley Stadium on Saturday night despite being outshot 20-7 by their hosts. Des Moines hit the goal’s frame four times without finding the back of the net one night after settling for a 1-1 draw in the teams’ season opener.
“You gotta put the ball in the net,” Menace head coach Laurie Calloway said. “We thought we outplayed them. We could’ve done better.”
The series of close calls came in the second half. They included a rattler off the cross-bar from Thomas Metzemaekers in stoppage time that came soon after a scramble in the box resulting in Justin Ortinau’s shot pinging the right post.
“We should have won the game. We just didn’t finish,” said the Menace’s Risto Laetti, whose free kick in the 61st minute bounced off the crossbar. “They [Real Colorado] got one lucky ball and got a goal.”
That goal came from Julian Donaldson, who connected on a free kick for the second night in a row. After two good looks earlier in the match, the Foxes’ top scorer from a year ago capitalized on a set piece just outside the box. His bomb in the 65th minute sailed sharply over the Menace’s wall, leaving goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi no chance to parry it from the top left corner.
Calloway still found some positives to pull from the match.
“It’s a forward step, even though it’s a loss. Much improved from last night. We created more opportunities,” the veteran coach said. “We improved in many areas.”
MR. B MAN of the MATCH: Brandon Beresford, who creatively put his teammates in goal-scoring opportunities from his position in the midfield. The native of Jonesboro, Ga., attends Graceland University.
UP NEXT: The Menace looks for its first win on Wednesday, on the road against the Springfield Demize. Des Moines is back at Valley Stadium next Saturday night as the Menace host the St. Louis Lions for a 7:30 p.m. match presented by CBRE/Hubbell.