Friday, November 2, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Chicago Soul burst into the MISL with a dazzling debut, defeating the hometown Syracuse Silver Knights 13‐8. Carlos Munoz scored twice for the expansion franchise as they pulled away in the fourth quarter to take victory in their inaugural contest.
The Silver Knights took the field to a raucous crowd of 3,412 onlookers and their furious pace of play clearly indicated that the team fed off the crowd’s energy. But the Knights were unable to capitalize on an onslaught of first quarter chances, and Cuitlahuac Meza put the visitors on top on the counter-attack with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Syracuse responded with a blazing top corner goal from Nelson Santana just a minute later, tying the game at 2-2 heading into the second quarter.
The Soul evened the flow of play in the second quarter, and answered with consecutive 2-point goals from Matthew Stewart and Bato Radoncic. Much like the first quarter, Syracuse was able to respond quickly, and Andre Berenzon reduced the deficit by converting on an outstanding individual effort. Berenzon took a pass from Santana into the attacking third, dribbled past two defenders, and blasted his finish past Chicago goalkeeper Jeff Richey.
It appeared as if the Knights would go into the locker room with a two‐point deficit, but Darren Toby was able to steal the ball from a Chicago defender and set up Daniel Stevens perfectly for a rocketing blast into the back of the net with just one second left before the halftime break, sending the teams to the locker rooms tied 6-6.
After a scoreless third quarter, Munoz gave the Soul a four‐point cushion with a pair of 2‐point goals. Chicago fed off the momentum, but Bryan O’Quinn kept the Knights alive with a fantastic flurry of saves, finishing with 10 on the night.
Syracuse pulled momentum back in their favor, but former Silver Knight Alex Megson put the game out of reach with a 3‐point goal from midfield into an empty net as the Silver Knights pushed to get back into the game with under three minutes to play. Berenzon was able to pull a goal back for Syracuse with just over a minute left, but the five‐point deficit proved too much to overcome.
The Silver Knights resume play on Saturday night at the Oncenter War Memorial Arena at 7 p.m. against their cross‐state rivals, the Rochester Lancers.