July 24, 2010
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Playing their in-state rivals, the Kitsap Pumas, with the Narrows Bridge Bell on the line, an early second-half goal stole the show away from the Tacoma Tide FC in a hard-fought 3:2 loss at home.
With the score squared at 1:1 in the 57th minute, Kitsap forward Tye Perdido caught Tacoma goalkeeper Jordan Jennings fighting the sun while trying to decide whether to make a play an incoming loose ball from the left side of the box or to sit back and protect his net. With Jennings deciding to make a play on the ball, Perdido got close enough to the ball to toe it over the outstretched goalkeeper, placing the ball into the back of the net on one bounce.
“The sun’s pretty killer,” said Jennings, who returned to the Tide FC after seeing minutes for Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC July 18 in a friendly against Celtic FC. “[Perdido] got behind [defender] Elliot [Morton] and then I got screened a little bit on the sun and I came out to stand big, but he had a good finish.”
“They took the chance well,” said Tide FC head coach Gerry Gray.
Falling behind within the first minute of the game thanks to a Matt Friesen free kick that found the back of the net, the Tide FC drew blood in the 19th when midfielder Chase Tangney stepped in front of a Kitsap pass near midfield and sent it on to forward Rory Agu. Agu, dribbling into the box, drew Kitsap goalkeeper Garrett Staples off the line and out of position. With Staples vulnerable, Agu poked the ball past the sliding keeper to even the score.
“Gerry told me before the game to just – when I get in the 18, just take a breath and just place it, so that’s what I did,” said Agu, Tacoma’s all-time leading scorer.
Kitsap (12-2-2) and Tacoma (9-4-3) traded goals in the 90th minute to up the score to 3:2, when Pumas reserve forward Todd Wallenius and then Tide FC reserve midfielder Dylan Tucker-Ganges inked their first goals of the season.
NOTES:
Tacoma’s starting lineup: 1 (GK) Jordan Jennings, 25 (D) Elliot Morton, 7 (D) Sean Foss, 8 (D) Steve Pirotte 15 (D) Brayton Knapp, 11 (M) Daniel Gray, 13 (M) Vlad Voin, 6 (M) Chase Tangney, 4 (F) Cam Vickers, 10 (F) Rory Agu, 24 (F) Chris Sanders
Kitsap’s starting lineup: 1 (GK) Garrett Staples, 3 (D) Mark Lee, 5 (D) Taylor Hyde, 7 (D) Steve Mohn, 16 (D) Jamel Wallace, 4 (M) David Gray, 8 (M) Matt Friesen, 15 (M) Kellen Wantulok, 19 (M) Nik Besagno, 20 (F) Tye Perdido, 24 (F) Eli Gordley
The goals by Kitsap’s Friesen and Perdido were their sixth and fifth on the season, respectively…In the 23rd minute, Tacoma’s Vlad Voin picked up a yellow card…The 34th minute saw Kitsap’s David Gray receive a yellow card...Kitsap inked itself into official’s book in the 64th minute, when Taylor Hyde earned a yellow card…Tacoma tacked on two more yellow cards, assessed to Steve Pirotte in the in the 75th minute and forward Mark Conrad in the 86th…Pirotte was carded a second time, this time in the 87th minute, to earn an ejection.
