Courtesy: Pacific Daily News


Cellar-dwelling futsal teams move upstairs

By Brett Maluwelmeng

An enthralling encounter between the Crushers Orange and the Bombers in the 2008 GFA Bud Light Women's Futsal League ended in a 7-7 draw yesterday at the Guam sports complex gym.

Both teams came into the match winless at 0-4 and at the bottom of the table, with the Crushers ahead of the Bombers with fewer goals allowed. The result gave the teams with their first points of the season and moved them ahead of DeYo, who had to forfeit yesterday's match against Guam Shipyard after being one short of the minimum four players required to start a match.

The Crushers started the match on fire -- with Mariah Hennegan scoring after just 50 seconds. The Bombers responded seven minutes later when Shannon Dix blasted home an errant goalkeeper throw. The Crushers' Faith Thompson then blasted a free kick off the crossbar before the Bombers' Sara Roberts curled a shot into the left corner of the goal on the counterattack to make it 2-1. Kristina Sevier made it 3-1 from close range just two minutes later and Dix added her second goal with seven minutes left. The Bombers then surpassed their goal tally from their previous four games with a fifth goal two minutes from halftime by Lyndi Derheim.

The Bombers took their biggest lead of the game at 6-1 early in the second half with a second goal by Roberts. The Crushers, who hit the post twice in the first half, hit it twice more before Jonimonay Tedpahogo finally found the back of the net with 15:02 left to cut the lead to 6-2. Thompson scored with a free kick a minute later and Tedpahogo netted her second at 13:05 off an assist from Brandy Potter to make it 6-4. Dix completed a hat trick with 9:48 left to put the Bombers up 7-4, but the Crushers' relentless attacks produced a goal by Potter and two more by Tedpahogo in the final minutes to salvage the draw.

Tedpahogo's four goals earned her a player of the match nomination as well as Bombers' goalkeeper Ashley Nelson, who finished with 14 saves.

The Crushers' outshot the Bombers 44-14, but the Bombers' shot accuracy was an astounding 86 percent compared to 55 percent for the Crushers.

s Hyundai 4, Quality Distributors 2: Shana Spindel, Tanya Blas-Cruz and Rosann Meeks gave Hyundai (4-1) a 3-0 halftime lead before Aubre Salas added a fourth just 15 seconds after the restart. Paige Surber and Estelle Alig scored for Quality (3-1).




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com