Saturday, June 9, 2012
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – With his first two goals of the season, Des Moines Menace defender Javi Lopez turned a deficit into a 2-1 win on Saturday night at Valley Stadium. The towering center back headed in two second-half scores, lifting the Menace past the Kansas City Brass and helping his team improve to 4-3-2 in the PDL's Heartland Division.
“It’s amazing,” Lopez said with a wide smile. “The goal was coming. We knew it was. It’s exciting for me.”
Lopez and the Menace defense kept the Brass at bay, after Matt McDevitt spotted the visitors (0-3-0) a halftime lead. In the 39th minute Jordan Green’s crisp, left-footed cross found McDevitt, who capitalized on Kansas City’s only shot on goal on a night when Des Moines outshot its guests 36-7.
The equalizer came in the 67th minute. Lebogang Moloto sent a corner kick to the far post and Taylor Diem headed the ball to Lopez for a header that froze Brass goalkeeper Kyle Martin. The score remained tied into the final minutes.
“My feeling was we were going to score,” Menace head coach Laurie Calloway said. “We created so many opportunities. Something would break eventually. It worked out for us in the end.”
It finally worked out in the 89th minute, when Gabe Silveira laced a back-post ball for Lopez’s game-winner.
The victory pulls the Menace into a second-place tie in the Heartland Division standings, alongside Springfield (4-2-2), as these teams prepare for a Thursday-night showdown in Missouri. Thunder Bay (5-1-0, 15 points) sits atop the division after a pair of 3-0 wins over St. Louis the last two nights.
With one more win, Calloway will become the franchise’s all-time winningest coach. For the moment, he’s tied with Casey Mann, who guided the Menace to a 48-19-13 record from 2005 to 2009. Calloway is 48-17-12 in his fifth season in Des Moines (2001-02 and 2010-present).
“It’s nice to be recognized,” Calloway said. “I personally don’t think about those things. It’s nice to be tied with Casey. Now, I want to put the record out of reach.”
MR. B MAN of the MATCH: Lopez, a native of Grenada who prepares for his sophomore season at Marshalltown Community College. The 6-foot-5 Lopez becomes the fifth Menace player to turn in a multi-goal performance this season, joining Husref Jupic (hat trick), Lebogang Moloto, Luis Piffer and Jordan Schmoker.
UP NEXT: The Menace get a second shot at Springfield on Thursday night at Cooper Complex. The game is set for a 7 p.m. start.