PDL Game Report
Friday, June, 27 2014
CINCINNATI -- The West Virginia Chaos took a 3-1 victory on Friday night to hand the Cincinnati Dutch Lions FC their first loss of the season at the Xavier Soccer Complex. In a battle between the top two teams in the PDL's South Atlantic Division, the Chaos took an important victory to move five points clear at the top of the division.
The Dutch Lions came out on the front foot, and had several shots on goal in the first five minutes, but West Virginia’s goalkeeper Sean Teepen was up for the challenge and was able to withstand the pressure. The Dutch Lions continued to create opportunities in West Virginia’s end, frustrating the Chaos, but Teepen continued to come up big for the Chaos. Cincinnati's best chance of the half came midway through the half as Rowin van Zaanen crossed high across the penalty area to the waiting head of Jeff McClure, but the shot was blocked. Kyle Smith fired off a rocket at the Chaos goal as well, only to find a waiting Teepen.
Although the Lions had more chances in the first half, the Chaos would take the lead in the 44th minute when a quick transition from defense to offense gave the Chaos their opportunity. West Virginia’s Jake Szabo would find Nick McDonald down the right and as Dutch Lions goalkeeper Eric Osswald came out McDonald put the ball over him and into the back of the net for a 1-0 halftime lead.
Cincinnati pushed hard for an equalizer early in the second half as van Zaanen would cross the ball to Steven Meyers, who put a touch to the far post but again Teepen would make the grab. The Chaos would double their lead in the 50th minute, however, as a turnover by Cincinnati’s Jordan Grant led to another counter-attack for West Virginia. Daniel Stratford broke down the left, and a quick cross in front of the Lions goal found Szabo, who would place the ball in the far left corner of the Dutch Lions' goal.
Cincinnati continued to press, but the West Virginia defense and Teepen remained tight and did not allow the Dutch Lions offense to take advantage of any opportunities. Any mistakes by Cincinnati saw West Virginia transition quickly and the Dutch Lions were pushed back to their own end. Cincinnati would get back into the game with five minutes to go when Kevin Walker went down the right side and put a ball across the goal where Chris Harmon was on hand to head home to halve the deficit. West Virginia put the game away in stoppage time, though, as Dion Peters scored on a one-on-one with Osswald to wrap up all three points.
“It’s a huge disappointment to suffer this first loss," Cincinnati’s Coach Terry Nicholls said. "We created more chances in our first loss than we have in a few of our other games. We had a few days off and I think that might have affected us a little bit. Even though they played last night, they seemed to be taking advantage on the counter when we would press. You have to put your chances in, or else you are going to be more susceptible, because you push more men forward and they came back on us on the break.
I am not worried about the third goal because that was just us trying to get an equalizer at the end. The second goal after half time hurt me bad. I am going to be talking about that one because we missed a great chance on their end. We should have scored up there, but they ran down the other end and made it two to nothing. So instead of one to one it’s zero to two for them. That one was really, really frustrating. So far, the lads have done well and we have had a good season, but now it’s time to bounce back for our game on Sunday.”
The Dutch Lions will welcome the SC United Bantams to the Xavier Soccer Complex on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. For tickets and information go to www.cincinnatidutchlionsfc.com.