In a match that tested the Tide’s offense, defense, and overall resolve, the Tacoma side bettered the home team; Fresno Fuego. The quieted the home crowd with a long throwin in from Dennis Sanchez finding Daniel Scott’s head. Scott out jumped defenders and the Fresno goal keeper to knock it in the air, and a second time, to nod it into the net. The 19th minute goal was Scott’s first of the season and the Tide were allowed to take a breath and settle in.
The second half saw a predictable surge from the home side. The Fuego came out strong and caused serious problems for the Tide. The Fuego’s best player, Fabricio Codeceira Lopes, was the main point of discussion during the halftime team talk. Everything positive for Fresno was going through him. Despite the attention to Codeceira Lopes, he was able to squeek free to created a cross and header off Jordan Jennings’ cross bar. A minute later, the Fuego #10, unleashed a shot that was saved excellently by Jennings. Jennings’ block was to the side, and the rebound was missed high. As if things weren’t going badly enough for the Tide, Ruben Orozco received a tatoo across his forehead in the 56th minute, courtesy of a Fresno high kick. Orozco was forced to leave the match for a few minutes for treatment but came back and contributed well. He does, however, have a shoe imprint above his eye that will last a few days.
The Tide created chances to keep the Fuego honest. One particularly dangerous one came from Spencer Schomaker, last week’s PDL Player of the Week. Schomaker hit a hard left footed shot from a narrow angle that was parried off for corner. Despite the chance, it was definitely the Fuego, who were on the fore-foot in the 2nd half. Against the run of play, the Tide thought they had a two goal cushion when a Fresno clearance in their defensive box hit their own player and fell to Schomaker’s foot. Schomaker passed it into the goal from 5 yards out, but the flag immediately went up for offside. Then it was back to Fresno again as they created a chance that made it all but one yard up the field. The last yard was blocked by Mark Lee as he cleared it off the line. Lee and his defense ended up clearing 3 chances off of Jordan Jennings’ goal line in the match.
Things began to even back up as the Fuego’s surge was dwindling around 15 minutes from time. In the 77th minute, the Tide’s top offense in the PDL struck true after a sublime turn and shot from Spencer Schomaker. The Tide target man received a ball to his feet at the top of the penalty box. With two swift touches he turned the center defender and was in 1 v 1 with the Fuego keeper. A clinical finish to the bottom left corner gave the Tide a much more comfortable lead of 2-0.
The last of the aformentioned clearances of the line from the Tide defense came in the 81st minute during a frantic comeback attempt, before the Tide put the match on ice. All 10 Fuego field players were up for a corner, leaving Chase Tangney alone on his own half to receive an onside pass. He took it to the Fuego box and blasted the ball into the top shelf for the 3-0 win. Ice was the operative word for the Tide as they all seemed to have a bag strapped to their legs in preparation for their match the next day. Division foes, the Vancouver Whitecaps also won their semi-final match to make it a Northwest final. The Whitecaps played in the 100 degree afternoon and needed overtime to grab the finals berth. Both teams will be tested for fitness Sunday night at 7:30pm. The match will be played at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.
