Syracuse Slays Chicago 7-3
February 15, 2015 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Chicago Mustangs News Release
Hoffman Estates, IL- The Chicago Mustangs, proud members of the Major Arena Soccer League (www.MASLSoccer.com), fell to the Syracuse Silver Knights 7-3 Sunday afternoon at the Sears Centre Arena.
Coming off of a playoff clinching victory in Detroit, the Mustangs used their momentum to grab an early lead when Douglas Nicolau took a blocked shot from Syracuse goalkeeper Rick Pflasterer and fired it past him to make it 1-0. Syracuse answered back 5 minutes later when Corey Elenio took a Slavisa Ubiparipovic pass and beat Chicago goalkeeper Jesus Flores on the far side to tie it up at 1. In a very fast quarter, the Mustangs took a late advantage when Miguel Vaca kept his hot streak going after dribbling through several defenders and firing a shot top shelf over the head of Pflasterer to make it 2-1.
The 2nd quarter was just as fast as the 1st and it wasn't until 10 minutes into the quarter that Syracuse was able to tie it up with Jade Mesias took a pass from Bo Jelovac and chipped it past Flores. Luckily for Syracuse, Pflasterer brought his A-game and was able to stop several great Chicago chances to keep it all knotted up at 2. Unfortunately for Syracuse, Pflasterer couldn't do it all and Chicago's Alexis Camarena took a great blocked shot by the Silver Knights goalkeeper and fired it right back through his legs to give the Mustangs a lead with 1:50 to go in the half.
Syracuse was able to knot it back up early in the 3rd quarter when Jelovic hammered a Flores sliding kick-save out of the air and past a downed Flores. The 4th quarter was all Silver Knights. Syracuse took a 4-3 lead 13 minutes into the 3rd when Antonio Manfut fired a corner kick off the body of Nicolau past an unsuspecting Flores. Syracuse would get on the board again just over a minute into the 4th quarter when Ubiparipovic took a shot that bounced off the crossbar and knocked it over the line to make the score 5-3. Just 2 minutes later, Syracuse doubled the Mustangs as Domenico Vitale got a running start and booted one past Flores who didn't even move to bring it to 6-3. Syracuse seemed to have all the answers to whatever Chicago threw at them as they were easily working through the Mustangs defense and extended the lead 7-3 when Kenardo Forbes fired a deflection off the glass past Flores on the power play. The Mustangs added Hewerton as an extra attacker to close out the 4th quarter but Syracuse, and more importantly Pflasterer, were able to shut down every Chicago chance and the Silver Knights would end up winning the contest 7-3.
Offensive Player of the Game: Alexis Camarena, forward - 1 goal
Defensive Player of the Game: Douglas Nicolau, defense - 1 goal
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The Mustangs return home for the playoffs Thursday, February 26 at 7pm at the Sears Centre Arena against the Milwaukee Wave. Visit the Sears Centre box office, call the Mustangs front office at (847) 805-6633 or visit us on the web at www.chicagomustangspro.com for all of your ticket needs.
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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from February 15, 2015
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- Syracuse Slays Chicago 7-3 - Chicago Mustangs
- Revolution Crushed at Missouri, 21-4 - Tulsa Revolution
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