FC Tucson News Release -- www.fctucson.com
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
TUCSON, Ariz. -- FC Tucson's Dan Antoniuk was responsible for some of the club's best scoring chances during the first two match days of the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup. He just couldn't convert them.
But on Wednesday night he finally earned himself a tally in FC Tucson's 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake.
"It was rewarding to get that goal," Antoniuk said. "I did have a bunch of chances I wasn't able to put away. So to finally be able to put one away felt great."
In the 59th minute, Saeed Robinson set up FC Tucson's lone goal by running up the the right flank, behind the defense, and crossing the ball into the box. Antoniuk then found the back of the net, a spot that eluded him in two previous matches of the tournament.
"We were teasing him a little bit about missing some easy goals early on," said FC Tucson Head Coach Rick Schantz. "And to see him go flying in there, kind of throwing his body, it was a good goal. Everything about it was good and it was a moment of relief for him, as well as myself because he's a great guy."
Antoniuk is a microcosm of the FC Tucson club that participated in the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup for the very first time. Many of the team's players came from all over the country and with varying backgrounds.
Antoniuk came from the St. Louis Ambush, a Major Indoor Soccer League club, as did Andres Acosta, who joined him in FC Tucson's starting XI.
Other players like Robinson, Eli Galbraith-Knapp, Michael D'Arrigo and Greg Carter, were former FC Tucson players who had just finished their college careers.
And others like Reid Schmitt, Ryan Gracia and Kareem Smith, were long past college careers, and between professional contracts, looking for the opportunity to catch on with another professional club.
"I think we did amazing considering we put a team together in two weeks without even knowing each other," Acosta said. "It definitely shows the quality of players we have."
Prior to the Antoniuk goal, the match was all Real Salt Lake. In the 11th minute, the club had two excellent chances back-to-back but D'Arrigo saved both shots. Then in the 14th minute, D'Arrigo denied Real Salt Lake again with a leaping save to his left.
But the pressure did not stop and in the 24th minute, Alvaro Saborio finally slipped a shot passed D'Arrigo to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 lead.
Neither team had great chances the rest of the half but in the 44th minute Real Salt Lake's Aaron Maund headed a ball passed D'Arrigo to make it 2-0. Just a minute later, Saborio scored his second goal when he deflected a free kick into the net.
Despite the 3-0 halftime lead, Real Salt Lake couldn't add to their goal total and Schantz was happy with his teams performance in the second half.
"Today I was really proud," Schantz said. "I thought that it was tough. We gave up three really good goals and they didn't put their heads down too much and they came out fighting in the second half. We talked about winning in the second half and they did so I was proud of them."
FC Tucson will now drop out of the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup Tournament and make way for "Los Futuros de Chivas de Guadalajara," who will play the Chicago Fire in the tournament final at 6 p.m. Real Salt Lake will play Chivas USA at 1 p.m. and the New England Revolution will play the Colorado Rapids at 3:30 p.m.
The Fire reached the tournament final by amassing the most points in the tournament (six). The other two matches were arranged to help avoid rematches among the remaining four clubs.