Sidekicks Topple the Tropics in an Epic Shootout Win
February 12, 2022 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Dallas Sidekicks News Release
ALLEN, TX - The Dallas Sidekicks (7-7) won 3-0 in the penalty shootout after being leveled in regular playtime and after overtime against Florida Tropics (10-1-1) Saturday night.
The first quarter of the game saw Sidekicks forward Luiz Morales score the night's opening goal after a fantastic assist from Jamie Lovegrove. Quickly, Erik Macias would double the lead for the North Texas side with five minutes left on the clock. The visiting side pulled one goal back and shortly leveled the game with 30 seconds left into the first quarter.
The second quarter began with a Florida Tropics goal making it 3-2. During the power play, Cameron Brown put one goal into the back of the net to level it off and make it 3-3 within three minutes of the second quarter. Luiz Morales would score his second of the night to increase the Sidekicks' lead to 4-3. After a few attempts, the visiting side managed to level the game with a few minutes left on the clock. Within seconds of the second quarter ending, Bradlee Baladez put the home side ahead 5-4.
Both sides attempted numerous times to score in the third quarter but could not do any damage. David Ortiz attempted two shots on his own but was unable to score. Both teams failed to score, ending the quarter 5-4 still in favor of the Sidekicks.
After a few minutes into the final quarter, Luiz Morales would score his third goal of the night to increase the Sidekicks' lead even further, making it 6-4. The Tropics managed to pull one back with five minutes left into the match. The Tropics leveled the match 6-6 with just a few minutes left into the final quarter. Once the quarter finished, both teams were still level and forced the match to go into overtime.
After ten thrilling minutes of overtime, despite recurring pressure from the Sidekicks, both teams failed to score and forced the match into the penalty shootout.
Luiz Morales opened the shootout for the Sidekicks. Jamie Lovegrove saw his shot blocked by the keeper. Sebastian Mendez scored the winning penalty kick!
Luiz Morales' fantastic performance against the Tropics led to him increasing his personal goal tally to 17 goals in the season.
"Two games without scoring got to my head," said Morales. "I had to put in extra work off the field, not just in practice, and today it kicked in and got us the win."
Head Coach Ricardinho commented after the team's thrilling win:
"I'm happy for my team," said Cavalcante. "We got the win against the best team in the league. We missed a bit of experience in the game at times, but if we work hard, we can get another win on Monday against St. Louis."
The Sidekicks return to the Credit Union of Texas Event Center on Monday, February 21, 2022, against the St. Louis Ambush (5-8) at 12:30 pm CST.
Major Arena Soccer League Stories from February 12, 2022
- Wave Cool Heat Saturday Night in Milwaukee. - Milwaukee Wave
- St. Louis Ambush Lose an Overtime Heartbreaker - St. Louis Ambush
- Sidekicks Topple the Tropics in an Epic Shootout Win - Dallas Sidekicks
- Tropics Go to a Shootout for First Time Ever, But Fall to Dallas Sidekicks, 7-6 - Florida Tropics SC
- UCFC Comes Back to Win in Overtime - Utica City FC
- San Diego Sockers Match Preview at Tacoma - San Diego Sockers
- Comets Host Chihuahua for Annual Pink Game Tonight - Kansas City Comets
- Sockers Open Double-Header Weekend at Tacoma with 6-3 Win - San Diego Sockers
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