Game Report
Clarkstown Eagles fell to Buxmont Torch 2-1 through a controversial offside goal scored by Pedro Sousa in the 88th minute Saturday night at Pennridge High School.
The referees marked the Eagles offside 13 times in the game.
It started in the second minute when Anthony Ferrer's goal was ruled out after the assistant referee waived his flag for an offside.
Clarkstown missed a crucial scoring opportunity in the 13th minute. Andres Berriel was one-on-one with opposing keeper Matt Palmer after receiving a neat through ball from Kodai Iida. Palmer came off his line and blocked Berriel's shot.
The Eagles had another close look at goal when Martin Lukaschik was left alone in the box after exchanging a one-two with Jonathan Okafor. Lukaschik failed the control Okafor's pass properly as the ball was behind him and as a result hit a shot off target in the 27th minute.
Clarkstown netted the opener at last in the 33rd minute as Iida dragged a low shot from a tight angle on the left corner of the box past keeper Palmer after controlling an intelligent through ball from Ferrer.
Buxmont almost equalized the game with their first shot of the night seven minutes before halftime. Keeper Andrew Tartara was off his line. Will Woodfin steered a low shot in the keeperless net but fortunately for Clarkstown Joaquin Aldabe was there to clear the ball.
Torch did draw themselves leveled with their opponents 26 minutes inside the second half as Cody Gangaware finished Josh Coupar's free-kick to the bottom left corner of the net.
The visitors had another goal ruled offside when Okafor squared the ball to Iida, who tapped the ball in the net in the 84th minute. Iida's celebration was cut short after the assistant referee waived his flag.
Torch scored the winner four minutes later. Christopher Riordan and keeper Tartara both expected each other to intercept a long pass but the ball went past them to Sousa, who was in an offside position. Sousa dribbled down an empty defense before shooting the ball in an empty net.
Players' afterthoughts: Martin Lukaschik
Midfielder Martin Lukaschik was heartbroken by the loss. "I'm very disappointed, as disappointed as it gets," he said. "I played a lot of games but this is probably one of the worst games--the worst outcome of a game-- I've ever seen. We were so dominant and then losing this game is ridiculous."
"I don't even want to get into it," Lukaschik said when asked about the referees' decisions. "We scored about three offside goals that were disallowed and then the last one for them was 10 yards offside, there was no doubt about that. I'm very disappointed."
The midfielder is assured that Clarkstown will recover from this loss. "We're going to come back stronger," Lukaschik said. "We're going to work harder, we see that in the NPSL anything can happen apparently so we just got to be focused next week and whoever comes, I don't even care, I don't know who I'm playing, we're going to win for sure."
Three key notes
Not finishing came back to hunt the Eagles: Clarkstown missed four glorious scoring opportunities before Buxmont's winner in the 88th minute.
Still looking for a winning streak: the Eagles haven't had a winning streak in all competitions this season after five games.
First time scoring in a loss: the loss to Torch was Clarkstown's first loss this season in a game in which they scored.
Statistics
Clarkstown Eagles
Shots: 14 (8)
Saves: 1
Fouls: 5
Corners: 8
Yellow cards: 2 (E. Lawrence, D. Correia)
Red card: 0
Offsides: 13
Buxmont Torch
Shots: 4 (2)
Saves: 7
Fouls: 13
Corners: 1
Yellow cards: 1 (M. Robinson)
Red card: 0
Offsides: 3
Position and record after the game
Clarkstown Eagles: 5th place (2-2-0)
Buxmont Torch: 3rd place (3-1-1)
No comments:
Post a Comment