Zodiac Shows Excitement but Little Defense in Loss
The Zodiac has been living up to its pledge of playing a more exciting brand of soccer. But Friday night, there was a little too much excitement and not much defense as the Zodiac blew a two-goal lead in the second half and fell to the Indiana Blast, 6-4, before an announced crowd of 857 at Santa Ana Stadium.
The loss was even more devastating because it came against Indiana (2-2), a Division 3 team last year, and probably knocked the Zodiac (3-3) out of contention for a U.S. Open Cup berth. Six other Western Conference teams need to lose at least twice for the Zodiac to qualify for the tournament that includes MLS teams.
“That’s what we’ve been striving for all year, the U.S. Open Cup,” said goalkeeper Mike Littman, who saved eight shots. “I’m in absolute shock right now.”
Littman, who was pelted with 10 shots in the second half, most of them from point-blank range, took the loss hard. But he wasn’t pointing fingers at his teammates. He blamed the officiating.
“It looks like somebody got paid off,” he said. “This game was ours. When they don’t call an offside, I’m going to be helpless out there. It’s hard when it’s two on none. You don’t know which guy to go to.”
Zodiac co-coach Ricardo Minaya didn’t say much about the officiating--giving credit instead to Indiana and reserve forward Sean Mondelli, who had two second-half assists.
“They beat us on speed,” Minaya said. “[Mondelli] came in and made a big difference in the second half.”
The Zodiac, which led 2-1 at half, went up 3-1 on Gustavo Leal’s goal two minutes into the second half. But the Blast scored four times in the next 20 minutes to take a 5-3 lead.
Peter Baah and Mark Phillips scored on rebound goals seven minutes apart to tie it, 3-3, Andy Parrish gave the Blast its first lead on a blast from 25 yards out and Joe Carver made it 5-3 against a bewildered Zodiac defense after taking a pass from Mondelli.
Steve Patterson gave the Zodiac a 2-1 lead in the 28th minute with his third goal in two games.
