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Scorpions Fall in Home Finale; Donate Nearly $700,000

October 27, 2013 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
San Antonio Scorpions News Release


The San Antonio Scorpions showed that Soccer for a Cause succeeded on its pledge, when owner, Gordon Hartman, announced at halftime of Saturday's match that the club had raised $662,559 for the special needs community. The Scorpions fell to the Cosmos, 2-1, in the match, but shocked the crowd of 7,702 with their substantial contribution to the community.

New York Cosmos overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to win the game and earn a spot in the NASL Soccer Bowl. This was the last home game of the season for the Scorpions and was also the Cosmos' first ever appearance at Toyota Field and their first in Texas since the 1970s.

The Cosmos' appearance in San Antonio created quite a buzz in the Alamo City this week.

Counteracting this excitement was the halftime presentation by Scorpions' owner Gordon Hartman announcing that the San Antonio franchise made good on its pledge to support the special-needs community in their Soccer for a Cause campaign, donating $662,559 to the cause. The Scorpions were founded solely to financially support Morgan's Wonderland, a non-profit special-needs theme park that is located directly across from Toyota Field, and they did just that with their unique efforts this season.

A goal in just the third minute of play by San Antonio forward Tomasz Zahorski only added to the day's excitement. Zahorski continued his torrid scoring with his 9th goal in only 12 games for the Scorpions. Forward Dennis Chin created the shot for Zahorski when he crossed it into the box after taking advantage of poor passing by the Cosmos. Zahorski controlled the cross and rocketed a shot across the goal and into the left side of the net.

The Scorpions missed a chance to extend their lead when Stephen DeRoux found Javier Saavedra with perfect through ball in the box. Saavedra received the pass but could put the ball in the net.

The Cosmos, paralleling the Scorpions, scored within the first ten minutes of the second half to tie the game 1-1. Marcos Senna, the La Liga and Spanish national team veteran, rocketed a shot from just inside the box in the 52nd minute past Scorpions' goalie Jeremy Vuolo into the right corner of the net after receiving a creative pass from Sebastian Guenzatti.

New York scored just two minutes later in the 54th minute when Diomar Diaz ran into the box, stopped on a dime, and passed it to Stefan Dimitrov who sent a laser into the top right corner of the net to take the 2-1 lead for the Cosmos.

The intensity between the two sides came to an apex in the 72nd minute when the Cosmos' Dane Murphy received a red card for tripping the Scorpions' Walter Ramirez. New York's head coach Giovanni Savarese was also sent to the locker room for arguing the call with the referees.

The Scorpions were not able to capitalize and take home the victory, but were proud and thrilled to announce the big donation. Head Coach, Alen Marcina, thanked the fans for their support of Soccer for a Cause.

"We owed it to the fans who have been unbelievable this year and they put it all out there and that's all I can ask," Marcina said.

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