Calgary sweeps Denver with two narrow wins
November 3, 2008 - Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL)
Denver Dynamite News Release
CALGARY UNITED 5 DENVER DYNAMITE 3 (Saturday)
Calgary United hosted the Denver Dynamite in PASL-Pro action on Saturday night, and came away with a 5-3 victory in a fast paced and entertaining match.
Denver played a smart defensive style suited to a road game and did well to capitalize on chances created in the first half, but Calgary came back from a 2-1 deficit at the break, and 3-1 early in the 3rd quarter, to score 4 unanswered goals to win 5-3.
The match opened with nervous end to end action as both teams had trouble getting a hold of the ball for sustained possession, but once the game settled down the crowd of 500 at the Calgary Soccer Center were treated to an exciting first quarter.
Much to the delight of the home supporters United created a number of clear chances on goal early, but Denver 's Justin Dzuba had his angles covered and came up with a handful of point blank saves.
Despite Calgary's early opportunities it was the Dynamite who opened the scoring when Jay Hamilton pounced on a rebound spilled by Bryan Klaus, and buried the ball in the top of the net.
Calgary's Mark Slade responded early in to the second quarter to make it 1-1, but Denver regained the lead on the fast break when Tony Thomas created separation from his defender and riffled a shot to the top left hand corner from just outside the arc.
The halftime break created a lull in play early in the 3rd quarter, and Denver extended their lead to 3-1 on a goal by captain Ryan Creager off an awkward turnover deep in the United end. The Dynamite could have furthered their lead minutes later when Fran Miron took a boarding penalty, but the penalty killers did their job and Klaus made three important saves in close to keep Calgary within reach.
Momentum shifted back to Calgary when Chris Kooy slotted one home from the top of the box off a nice Nic Reyes feed, and early in the 4th quarter Reyes picked the top upper right hand corner on the power play to even the game at 3-3.
As the 4 quarter progressed tired legs began to show all over the park but the pace refused to slow, and Andre Duberry got the eventual game winner with a one timer from the point that found the left side of the net through traffic.
The Dynamite pinned United deep in the final 2 minutes when they opted for a sixth attacker, but Reyes iced the game with a long range effort into the vacant goal with less than 30 seconds to go.
Dzuba had an outstanding game in goal for Denver and picked up man of the match for his efforts. Calgary out shot the Dynamite 25 to 13 and Reyes was man of the match for United on the strength of two goals and one helper.
CALGARY UNITED 5 DENVER DYNAMITE 2 (Sunday)
Calgary United hosted the Denver Dynamite for the second time in two days on Sunday afternoon at the Calgary Soccer Center, and capped off the opening weekend of their season with a second straight win.
Kickoff was only 17 hours after the conclusion of Saturdays match but both teams came out flying, and were it not for two near misses, the score could have been 1-1 after just 45 seconds of open play.
Determined to avenge their Saturday loss Denver opened up the game and ran hard at the younger United side, but the next big chance came when Calgary's Dean Northover was stoned by Justin Dzuba on a shot from the top of the box.
Denver continued to press for the rest of the quarter, but again it was Calgary who had the best opportunity when Dzuba came up big once again on Chris Kooy right at the buzzer.
The Dynamite upped the work rate to start the second quarter and failed to capitalize on three good opportunities before Ryan Creager got his second of the weekend to open the scoring.
United responded less than a minute later with a brilliant left footed strike by Kooy that found the top corner. The refs let them play, calling few fouls, and the clubs battled to the break tied 1-1.
After coming out flat to start the second half on Saturday, Calgary was more focused on Sunday and Mark Slade got his second of the weekend just one and a half minutes into the 3rd quarter.
Nic Reyes made it 3-1 with a bullet to the low right hand corner, but Dynamite veteran Chris Handsor turned Northover expertly and fired the ball past Bryan Klaus shortly after.
In the 4th quarter Reyes got his 2nd of the game, and 4th of the weekend, on a nifty give and go with Kooy, and Nick Zuniga nearly put the game out of reach for Calgary but was thwarted twice in quick succession by Dzuba.
After a time out to regroup, Denver opted for the 6th attacker with four and half minutes left. Handsor ran things from the top, and the Dynamite came closest to scoring when Klaus made a superb diving save on Creager with a minute left. Fran Miron finally relieved the pressure with an empty netter with 13 seconds to go.
Shots on goal favored Denver 19 to 18, and Klaus edged out Kooy and Reyes for man of the match based on timely saves and excellent ball distribution. Handsor took the honor for Denver.
Professional Arena Soccer League Stories from November 3, 2008
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- Calgary sweeps Denver with two narrow wins - Denver Dynamite
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