PDL Game Report
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
BLUEFIELD, W.V. -- The Southern West Virginia King's Warriors and Carolina Dynamo finished level at 2-2 on Tuesday night at the East River Soccer Complex. The King's Warriors barely kept their playoff hopes alive with the tie while Carolina was officially eliminated from postseason contention. Jeremy Payne and Jorge Mackenna scored the King's Warriors' goals while Mamadee Nyepon had both Carolina goals.
Mackenna's goal in stoppage time secured the tie for Southern West Virginia. The Dynamo led 1-0 and 2-1, only to see the King's Warriors equalize each time.
Southern West Virginia remains unbeaten at home at 4-0-2 and now posts a 6-4-3 record for 21 points. Carolina's record after the tie stands at 6-5-2 for 20 points.
"After a lackluster first half, where the Dynamo thoroughly outplayed us, our boys responded well in the second half," said Southern West Virginia King's Warriors' Head Coach Scott Reitnour. "We showed perseverance determination and heart, twice coming back from a goal down. I was very proud of the effort the Warriors put out in the second half. Our goal heading into our final match Saturday against the West Virginia Chaos will be to put in a full 90-minute effort."
Southern West Virginia, the Cincinnati Dutch Lions and West Virginia Chaos are all still in the chase for the PDL's South Atlantic Division title with one regular-season game remaining. The South Atlantic Division winner will advance to the PDL Playoffs. Should the King's Warriors take victory against West Virginia in its final game of the season, and Cincinnati defeat River City, the three teams would each finish the season with identical 7-4-3 records. In that case the first tiebreaker, head-to-head results, would be eliminated due to a three-way tie, as would the second of total wins, with each side finishing with seven, leaving goal differential as the deciding factor.
Should the Chaos earn at least a draw, they would advance, while Cincinnati would be favored should there be a three-way tie with the Dutch Lions holding a +7 goal differential that would increase with a victory against River City. Southern West Virginia will hope for Cincinnati to fail to claim all three points, and take a two-goal victory against the Choas itself, to give itself a chance at the postseason, which would level the head-to-head series between the two teams, and leave both with seven total wins and a +5 goal differential. The fourth tiebreaker, total goals, would send Southern West Virginia into the postseason.
On Tuesday night, the teams played to a scoreless first half, but the Dynamo had the better scoring opportunities, outshooting the King's Warriors 8-3.
Both teams had chances in the first 25 minutes of the second half, but it was Carolina who would finally break the deadlock in the 69th minute. Nyepon's shot, off an assist from Tony Murillo, was partially deflected by King's Warriors' goalkeeper Jonathan Davis, but landed in the back of the net for a 1-0 Dynamo lead.
Davis, making only his third start of the season in net for Southern West Virginia and first since June 5, played well. He thwarted several excellent scoring opportunities in the first half by Carolina. "He played a good game,"said King's Warriors' goalkeeping coach Andrew Dailey. "The expectation coming in was for him to do the little things right, to be very consistent with angle play and to push everything toward him. He did everything we asked and it ended up making a big difference for us tonight where it kept us in the game where we could battle."
Southern West Virginia would equalize in the 82nd minute as Payne's shot off an assist from Harry Sherwood landed just inside the post past Carolina goalkeeper Alex McCauley. Nyepon, dangerous all night with a team-high five shots, turned James Brace's pass into the back of the King's Warriors' net in the 86th minute to put Carolina back on top at 2-1.
The King's Warriors had one last effort in stoppage time and it proved to be a game-leveler. Payne's shot was stopped by McCauley, but Mackenna was there to put home the rebound and Southern West Virginia managed to secure the tie with seconds left in the match for the 2-2 final.
"When we were one nil down I thought 'we're at home and we don't lose at home'," King's Warriors' Assistant Coach Paul Cox said. "When they made it 2-1 with four minutes left you're thinking that our home steak is over. But Jorge hopped on that rebound with seconds left and we get the tie and keep the home streak alive. That gives us confidence going into Saturday."
Carolina will close its regular season on Friday night in Columbia, S.C. against the SC United Bantams, while Southern West Virginia will close out its regular season at home Saturday night hosting its in-state rivals, the West Virginia Chaos at 7 p.m.