Anaheim Bolts Weekend Preview
February 9, 2012 - Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL)
Anaheim Bolts News Release
Anaheim, CA- (February 9, 2012)- The Anaheim Bolts (4-7) kick off their crucial five game stretch with a double header in Washington this weekend against the Tacoma Stars (3-7).
The two clubs will meet for the first time in their history on Saturday at 7 P.M. PST at Starfire Arena. They will renew acquaintances less than 24 hours later with a 3:00 P.M. kickoff time at the same venue.
With San Diego having already clinched the Western Division title, the second and third play-off spots are up for grabs, but the Bolts definitely need some help.
Turlock needs just one more win from its final two games (home to San Diego and Tijuana) to wrap up the second spot. The Mexican side needs just two wins in its final four games (home to Arizona, away to Turlock and Anaheim before finishing at home against Tacoma) to clinch one of the final two seeds.
Even if Turlock and Tijuana slip up, the Bolts must win their five remaining matches. Four of which are against the Tacoma Stars.
"At this point, we can't worry about the other teams," opined Bolts head coach Bernie Lilavois. "After a few days off, we have conducted high tempo training sessions from beginning to end to really press to our guys that they MUST play the full 60 minutes. Too many times this season we have beaten ourselves. If we are going to lose to Tacoma this weekend, we want to make them earn it."
The Bolts are still stinging from the loss of leading scorer Enrique Tovar to the Syracuse Silver Knights, but Bernie Lilavois is not worried about the goals drying up. "We have plenty of players who will carry the burden from Adriano de Lima up top to Hugo Casillas and Rafael Gaytan in midfield. The Gonzalezes [Felipe, Juan, and Osbaldo] also showed us in their first two games that they can chip in with goals as well."
The Tacoma Stars are just one game behind the Bolts with a record of 3-7 and will be playing their first game since a 10-6 home loss versus San Diego all the way back on January 15. Therefore, a fresh and hungry team will be looking to halt a five game losing skid which dates back to December 10th of last year. Five of those losses came in a three game stretch against the Sockers.
The Stars are the third worst team in the PASL in terms of scoring with a paltry 71 goals in 10 games, but also have the league's second best defense with just 85 goals conceded.
Keep in mind that if the Stars win their six remaining games (four of which are against the Bolts), then they also have a shot at the playoffs depending on the results of Tijuana and Turlock.
So even though both teams are at the wrong end of the table, it will be a very intense weekend as there is still all to play for.
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