Scorpions Alone in First Place in Both the NASL's Fall Season and Combined Standings

Published on September 7, 2014 under North American Soccer League (NASL)
San Antonio Scorpions News Release


SAN ANTONIO, TX - The San Antonio Scorpions took control of the NASL Fall Season and Combined standings with a feisty 3-0 win over FC Edmonton. The win extends San Antonio's unbeaten streak at Toyota Field to eight games, which is one shy of the team record.

The Alamo City eleven led 1-0 at the halftime break pulled away in what proved to be a very eventful second half. Edmonton started the half as the aggressors and actually had a few excellent chances on goal. Lance Laing came closest for the visitors in the 55' when he ripped a shot past SAS goalie Josh Saunders, but fortunately for the Scorpions, the shot rattled off the crossbar and out of harm's way. Then in the 65', things began to unravel for the Eddies.

FCE defender Eddie Edward pulled down Billy Forbes in the box and was shown a straight red card by referee Sorin Stoica, who also awarded a penalty kick. Striker Thomasz Zahorski stepped up to the spot, but his low left effort was saved by Edmonton's Lance Parker. Only four minutes later, Edmonton went down to nine men when midfielder Cristian Raudales was shown straight red for a hard challenge on C�sar Elizondo.

San Antonio naturally controlled the ball for the remainder of the match with the two-man advantage and added on goals in the 85' and then a third in stoppage time. First, Elizondo and Parker collided in the box and then Billy Forbes collected the ball, dribbled around the downed players and calmy tapped the ball into the wide-open net for his fourth goal of the year. Just before the final whistle, substitute Trevin Caesar barrelled his way through the under-manned Edmonton defense before finding space to shoot and net his second NASL goal.

Edmonton almost got off to a dream start on the road as the Eddies put Josh Saunders to work in only the fourth minute of play. Saunders saved a strong headed shot off of an FCE corner and then the immediate attempt off the rebound from defender Kareem Moses. After that, the rest of the half belonged to the Scorpions. Rafael Castillo had a couple of ambitious attempts from outside the box go high and Elizondo hit a beauty that sailed just over the crossbar before the home team finally hit paydirt in the '37.

Elizondo squared the ball to Castillo outside of Edmonton's 18-yard-box and the Colombian used some deft dribbling to open some space for himself on the edge of the area. He unleashed a left-footed laser that hit the inside of the left post and then ricocheted back across goal and into the net. The goal was Castillo's fourth of the season and the assist was Elizondo's fourth of the year, but first with the Scorpions since he joined the team in a mid-season trade with the Carolina RailHawks.

Both teams will be on the road next week as San Antonio heads east to take on former Scorpion Danny Barrera and the RailHawks while FC Edmonton will be in Indianapolis to face Indy Eleven.



North American Soccer League Stories from September 7, 2014


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