Central Florida Kraze News Release -- www.krazesoccer.com
Sunday, July 10, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Central Florida Kraze defeated the Nashville Metros 3-0 on Friday night to secure their place in the USL Premier Development League playoffs while avenging their worst defeat of the season. The Kraze join the Mississippi Brilla in reaching the playoffs from the Southeast Division, with the two now left to fight it out for the division title for the remainder of the regular season.
The Kraze (8-2-2/26 Points) came out firing on all cylinders and knocked the ball around nicely but were unable to crack the Nashville (3-7-3/12 Points) defense. The breakthrough finally came in the 44th minute when forward Ryan Maloney was taken down in the penalty area and the Kraze were awarded a penalty kick. Defender Samuel Fairhurst made sure it would count with a cracking shot into the Metros net.
The Metros were then dealt another blow early in the second half when defender Nick Dykes received his second yellow card, reducing Nashville to 10 men.
Nashville worked hard and played well being down a man, but the Kraze continued their momentum when Maloney found the back of the net in the 72nd minute for a 2-0 lead. Maloney would add his second tally of the night in the 89th minute to secure the victory which also allowed the Kraze to stay in touch at the top of the Southeast Division standings with the Mississippi Brilla. Defender Daniel Sackman was in complete control of the Kraze defense which recorded its fifth shutout of the season.
"I could not be more proud of the players", stated Kraze head caoch Joe Avallone. "They have worked extremely hard to get these results and we now must continue to focus on the task at hand ... ending the regular season positively. We have four more matches against formidable opponents and I would like nothing more then to get a result in each game".
Central Florida could only be caught by the Bradenton Academics in the standings, however the Kraze own the head-to-head tiebreaker by defeating Bradenton three times already this season. The Brilla lead the Kraze by three points in the division, but Central Florida has a game in hand on Mississippi, meaning the two teams could finish the season tied on points if they both win out. The Brilla would win that head-to-head tiebreaker after their 3-0 win on June 4, meaning the Kraze need Mississippi to slip up in one of their final three matches to have a chance to overtake them for the division crown.
The Kraze's next match is on Thursday, July 14th when they return home and face the Academics with the match being played at Showalter Field in Winter Park with a 6 p.m. kickoff time.