Las Vegas Knights vs. San Diego Surf; January 9, 2010 8:30 PM in San Diego.
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21 January 2010
The Knights traveled from Los Angeles to San Diego to play their second game of the day against a fresh San Diego side. A little banged up from their earlier match, the Knights started off rather slow almost giving up an early goal in the opening five minutes. The Surf pressed forward, blasting a point blank shot to the left side of Knights Keeper, Philip Webb. After making the initial save to slow the ball, Philip bounced up to bat the ball away off the line.
The Knights were aggressively pressed by the fresh Surf team; only strong goal keeping combined with defensive efforts from Travis Norberg, Mitch Jenkins, Josh Copeland and rookie Brad Stoops in his first game with the Knights kept San Diego from opening the scoring. The Knights midfield and Forwards continued to make runs and press the Surf defense, but were not able to capitalize on their chances to score, which resulted in the first half ending 0-0.
The Knights regrouped at half-time and came out with a vengeance, once again creating opportunities to score. The high work rate from the Knights midfield Derik van Gessel, Rene Abrego, Rudy Rodriguez, and Berto Garcia put the Surf back on their heels and committing fouls which resulted in the first power-play of the game. The Knights efforts finally paid off 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter when Lucho received a solid through pass from Berto Garcia to the back post for an easy tap in breaking the deadlock. However, the Surf were determined to not allow the Knights momentum to continue, by answering back a couple of minutes later. The Surf caught a break-away which resulted in a one on one with Knights keeper, Philip Webb. Philip deflected the first shot off the crossbar and across the goal, which rebounded to a Surf forward on the other side of the goal. The second shot was deflected off defender Travis Norberg off the cross-bar again and fell to an unmarked forward for a third. The third shot was slotted home off the finger tips off the Knights keeper to even the score to 1-1.
Despite the setback, the Knights bounced back quickly. After receiving a quick shot from the Surf directly in the hands of Philip Webb, he passed the ball to Josh Copeland who quickly released a deep outlet ball to Lucho Suarez already on the break. Lucho cleverly finished the ball to the bottom right hand corner re-establishing the lead to 2-1. With the tension high, and already in foul trouble again, a San Diego player smashed Lucho Suarez into the boards which put the Knights on another power-play, and earned the Surf player a Red Card. The Knights capitalized on the opportunity when Esad Morina produced a layoff to Travis Norberg who fired home goal number 3 to right hand corner to end the quarter.
The fourth quarter began just as the third had ended, on a power-play. With the Knights a man up, the Knights midfield was able to continue to penetrate the San Diego defense, which leads to goal number 4. Fancy footwork from Esad Morina put the defense on their heels, creating the opportunity to pass back post where Rene Abrego was waiting to tap it home. Although the Surf eventually got back to full strength, they had no answers for the dominance of the Knights team. With 10 minutes to go, Derik van Gessel made a stellar rundown down the right line, playing the ball off the wall to Esad to put away number 5. The Knights finished the game strong, with a final goal from Derik va
n Gessel from the top of the arc.
Despite being banged up and exhausted from an earlier game just a few hours prior, the Knights produced yet another solid team performance. The Knights goalkeeper and defense held strong, and became stronger as the game progressed. The Knights midfield and forwards continued to create space and make runs to expose the San Diego defense. The result was the Knights ending the day with a 6-1 win over San Diego, remaining undefeated with a 4-0 overall record!
