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Sol has Sole First Place
July 17, 2005
Recovering from a lethargic 3-0 defeat at
Chico last week, Sonoma County Sol defeated the Sacramento Knights 1-0 at
Ernie Nevers Field Friday night to claim first place in the National Premier
Soccer
 League's
Western Division. Going into the game tied with 32 points each, Sol
defeated the Knights on the strength of outstanding defense. Defenders
Scott Preckwinkle,
Michael Briceno,
Steve Purdy and
CJ Sigler had an
outstanding performance as did goalkeeper
Derek Shaffer and defensive
midfielder Andres Flores.
The only score of the game came in the 11th minute when defender Michael
Briceno made an outstanding run with the ball up the left side, beat two
defenders, stopped the ball on the end line, then turned inside to beat a
third
 defender
who brought him down in the penalty area.
Tony Bussard scuffed a slow but
perfectly placed penalty kick low to the right of goalkeeper Mark Torguson just
inside the post for the goal.
The remainder of the first half was wide open with the fast and dangerous
offense of Sacramento, including forwards Jimmy Frazelle and Anthony
Chimienienti constantly pressuring the Sol defense. Sol was up to the task.
Numerous times, Steve Purdy and CJ Sigler used their height to advantage in
clearing high balls out of the area. Scott Preckwinkle and Michael Briceno
were also very solid. Derek Shaffer came up with 5 solid saves to maintain
the shut out. Sol's midfield also played well with
Brad Yuska and Andres
Flores doing an excellent job of spreading the ball around, keeping width
and maintaining long possession
In the early part of the second
half, Sacramento's pace slowed
 considerably
as their forwards seemed spent from their first half effort. The Knight's
shot count went from 11 in the first half to 6 in the second while Sol
stayed on pace with 8 shots in each half. Sol's possession game became the
more dominant for most of the second half. Defender Preckwinkle also
contributed a Beckamesque 45 yard crossing pass to the noggin of David
Briceno who got power on the shot that unfortunately was wide of the mark.
Within the last 5 minutes of the second half, David Briceno stole the ball
from a defender, ran up the left side and beat Knight goalkeeper Mark
Torguson who had come way out of his goal to pressure Briceno 1 on 1.
Briceno's move beat Torguson and briefly had a open net to shoot on.
However, Tony Bussard was streaking up the right side with a Knight defender
slightly behind him when Briceno laid the ball off to him. Bussard scored
the easy goal, but was ruled offside at the time the ball was played. The
goal was disallowed to the consternation of the Sol faithful.
Shaffer came up particularly well at the end of the game with several
quality saves including a
beauty coming off a free kick taken directly in front of the goal from just
outside the penalty area. The hard, low shot got by the wall and was headed
to Shaffer's left. He was able to get in front of the ball to block its
progress His clearance ushered in the whistle that ended play.
In a physical game, Sol gave as well as it got, committing 22 fouls to 16
for the Knights. Each side was charged with 2 yellow cards and emotions ran
high in the second half with a brief scuffle after a hard foul by Sacramento
in front of both benches.
Sol takes over undisputed first place in the NPSL on the strength of the
victory and is guaranteed a first round home game in the playoffs. However,
Sol has now played all of its regular season games, while Sacramento has 2
more to go...Saturday night at Chico (always toughest at home) and next
week against Salinas Finishing the regular season in first place will
determine home field advantage in a second playoff game between Sol and
Sacramento should both win in the first round. Should Sacramento win both
of its remaining games or win and tie, it would finish first with more
points than Sol and have home field advantage. One loss would result in a
tie in points, and Sonoma would finish first based on the 2-1 head to head
game advantage tie breaker.
July 10, 2005
Sol suffered a big loss in
Chico, 0-3 Saturday night. After two wins this weekend, Sacramento moves up
to tie for first place. The Chico Rooks move to third place and Samba drops
to 4th.
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