Sports stats

Piasa Rally to Strike Down Lightning

February 19, 2011 - Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL)
Louisville Lightning News Release


After opening up a four-game winning streak, the Louisville Lightning have now dropped two straight in PASL league play. The latter of the two losses came Saturday night at Mockingbird Valley Sports Complex. The Illinois Piasa made their first trip to Louisville and overcame a three-goal deficit to defeat the Lightning 11-8 in front of nearly a thousand fans Saturday.

For the Lightning, it was not only the second loss in a row, but the defeat puts the team's playoff hopes in jeopardy as well. Louisville has two games remaining in the regular season, hosting the Ohio Vortex next weekend and then visiting the Cincinnati Kings to close out the 2010-2011 campaign.

Saturday's loss to Illinois was a product of subpar play and execution, even though Louisville opened up a three-goal lead in the second quarter. The Piasa were the aggressors from the opening whistle, however, with Chris Anzalone scoring just 31 seconds in to stun the home fans. Seven minutes later, Illinois struck again when Aaron Reuther set up Roger Gemoules to put the visitors up 2-0.

Stunned from the opening moments, the Lightning fought back to change the momentum of the game. Darren Yeagle would score the home side's first goal off an assist from Chad Hagerty with 4:38 left in the first quarter, then Yeagle would set up Mariano Gonzalez to tie things up at 2-2 with five seconds remaining in the period.

Louisville appeared to be in the driver's seat, as Nick Judah would give them their first lead early in the second period. The Piasa's Jon Fridal would score his first of three goals to tie things up once again, but two goals from Tommy Clines and a second from Darren Yeagle would put the Lightning up 6-3 with 6:22 left in the first half. With a comfortable lead, things began to unravel for Louisville.

Aaron Reuther and James Chambers would cut Louisville's lead to just one, then Jon Fridal would complete his hat trick on the night with two more strikes to put Illinois back on top 7-6 with 8:25 left in the third period. Mariano Gonzalez would score his second goal to even things up once again, but Illinois would fire off three consecutive fourth quarter goals to go up 10-7. Both teams would hit the back of the net late, but Illinois never let off the gas in the closing moments. In the end, the Piasa shocked the Lightning 11-8 at Mockingbird.

Louisville now turns its attention to the Ohio Vortex in the final home game of the season. That game will take place Friday, February 25th at Mockingbird Valley Sports Complex.



Professional Arena Soccer League Stories from February 19, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central