EVERETT — During many soccer games stoppage time can be fairly uneventful. Saturday night at Goddard Stadium the North Sound SeaWolves learned that it can also be fairly cruel.
During the first half they lost a player and in the second the SeaWolves lost the game.
After a brilliant 86
th-minute goal by Todd Wallenius tied a score, the SeaWolves surrendered a stoppage-time score to Abbotsford, which triumphed 2-1.
The Mariners (2-4-2, 8 points) now sit just one point behind SeaWolves FC (2-3-3, 9 points). North Sound coach Alex Silva said before the game that he felt the June 4th tie between the teams was one that his squad should have won. Saturday night his team looked like it assumed it would win in the early going.
“We started sleeping,” Silva said. “That was a team with five points, one of the last teams on the table. We’ve got to give them respect, but we stepped on the field like this was going to be too easy and it wasn’t.
“Our energy was down. We were able to pick up the energy in the second half … but it was too late.”
The SeaWolves dug themselves a quick hole by surrendering a goal in the second minute. Danfi Parker used a burst of speed to squirt through the SeaWolves defense and quickly finished a Daniel Lowen pass. SeaWolves keeper Claudio Lazar had four saves on the night, but had no chance on the shot off the powerful right foot of Parker.
“You can’t win a game in 15 minutes, but you can lose a game in 15 minutes,” Silva said, “and that’s exactly what happened.”
Other than a few moments in the first half, the SeaWolves were on their heels.
Parker used his speed to threaten on the right side for much of the half. Around the 45th minute Parker got tangled up with SeaWolves defender Craig Tomlinson with both players ending up on the ground in the corner of the SeaWolves end. The Mariners forward seemed to hand out the majority of the punishment during the tussle, but Tomlinson was given the yellow card.
A minute later the cheap yellow proved extra costly. During stoppage time of the first half, Tomlinson made a clear cleat-up kick to Abbotsford’s Sasa Pavsic. It was good for a second yellow and ejection from the game. The SeaWolves had to finish the night a man down and Tomlinson has to sit out Tuesday against Tacoma.
The SeaWolves energy was completely different in the second half despite playing with 10 men. They dominated the possession as the Mariners looked content with the 1-0 score.
Silva substituted in Wallenius in the 86th minute and less than a minute later a long ball came to Brady Ballew (Seattle University/Marysville Pilchuck) on the right. He deftly crossed it to the far post where Wallenius was there to head it past Lucas Menz for the equalizer.
After pushing offensively for the entire second half, the SeaWolves were caught off guard with the Mariners offense resurgent in the final minutes. Parker got off another laser shot that was brilliantly saved by Lazar, but the SeaWolves keeper failed to control the ball, which was drilled home by Abbotsford’s Cody Strelau for the game winner.
Abbotsford coach Ian Knight was pleased with his side despite some ups and downs.
“We’ve know all year that the boys have good character,” Knight said. “We’ve got a team of battlers that won’t surrender and tonight they got their rewards.”
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