May 17, 2008

After 3 games on the road, the San Francisco Seals could finally play in front of their fans for the first time this season.

As the Seals had a better possession in the first half, Orange County did not seem to be overwhlemed and created a few good chances. However, after a good collective move, Eric Lafon made the right decision, passing the ball to Demitrius Omphroy on the right wing. Omphroy perfectly crossed the ball at the far post for Steven Cordova's head who didn't miss the opportunity from the 6-yard line (1-0, 19th)

Unfortunately for the locals, 4 minutes later, Shea Whelan commited a foul on the right side of the Blue Stars' offense, about 25 yards from the goal. Adrian Martinez sent the ball in the box on Oscar Aguero's head, who pushed the ball toward the net, out of reach of Dan Benton (Seals' goalkeeper) (1-1, 23rd)

At half time, the Seals had the good idea to invite a young local band to prevent the crowd from freezing in the fog. The Agent Deadlies, formed by Ian (Guitar and vocals), Pete (drums) and Joey (basse and vocals) entertained the crowd with an interresting self confidence, considering their age. We recorded a part of their set for you: Listen to The Agent Deadlies: (for more info, here is a link to their website)

After the break, Kellan Wilson, the Seals' best scorer with 3 goals in 3 games came in. He moved a lot, proposed a lot of solutions, but the Orange County's defense was very well organized and didn't let a lot of space to the Seals who were only dangerous on some of the many corner kicks they obtained.

The fog, that had already started to appear while the fans were arriving before the game started, was now very thick and the two goalkeepers could barely see eachother.

The two teams continued to play an intense and lively game and, as often in soccer, the best opportunities came in the final minutes when both defensive blocks started to be tired and let more space to the offensive players to create danger.

Both teams had their chance. The Seals first, when Junior Burgos tried a splendid lob from 25 yards. His tentative was going to die in the net, right below the bar, but Kris Minton (Orange County's goalkeeper) was there and deflected the ball in corner with his fingertips (85th)

5 minutes later, while the 4th official was announcing 2 minutes of stoppage time, it's Dan Benton who saved his team with the extrimity of his left foot when a Blue Stars' forward, alone in the box, had all the time to control and place the ball in the goal that seemed open (90th)

The fans held their breath for an instant, but the score didn't change and both teams took one point, which is finally a fair result, considering that both teams had their periods and their chances.

The Seals will now have to win next match (Saturday May 24, 8pm at USF-Negoesco stadium) to keep a chance to play the US Open Cup. After playing 3 of their first 4 games away, they have now a total of 8 points, puting them in the second position behind the Frogs, with the Los Angeles Legends only one point behind (the Legends have only played 3 games so far)

Paul Aigbogun, the assistant coach of the Seals, seamed satisfied after the game: "We have a very young team, some players just joined ud and they showed a lot of promises. We could have won today but I think if anybody had told us we would have 8 points after 4 games we would have been happy with that" he said.

 

Atmosphere

They were about 250 yesterday to support the Seals at Negoesco, in a good atmosphere which remained warm until the end.

The Ball Boys 2nd grade kids from the Millennium F.C. They have just played their last game of the season in the U-8 San Francisco Micro Soccer League.

Thierry Heumann (email)

Photos 1 & 4: Kaito Okutani

Lineups:

San Francisco Seals: Dan Benton - Shea Whelan (Josh Leon, 73rd), Doug Carr, Richard Halvorsen, Yousef Samy - Eric Lafon (Junior Burgos, 27th), Victor Cortez, Francisco Camacho (Jesse Henderson, 59th), Demitrius Omphroy (Michael Balugon, 66th) - Jose Carlos Diaz (Kellan Wilson, 46th), Stephen Cordova (Chris Deal, 56th)

OCBS: Kristopher Minton - Michael Mirzadeh (David Sias, 56th), Kyle Schmidt, Joel Smith, Kyle Rice - Matt Murphy (Shane Westbrook, 76th), Ian Ebert (Patrick Marion, 71st), Adrian Martinez, Johnathan Fahey (Bryan Burke, 52nd), Oscar Aguero, Jeffrey Clark.

Officials: Kari Seitz, Joel Linn, Sinder Philippe, Andrew Hanks.

Goals:

SF Seals: Stephen Cordova (19th, Assist: Demitrius Omphroy)

OCBS: Oscar Aguero (23rd, Assist: Adrian Martinez)

Cautions:

OCBS: Jonathan Fahey (42nd)

SF Seals: Richard Halvorse (68th)

	Shots Half1 Half2 Final   San Francisco Seals 2 7 9   Orange County Blue Stars 5 5 10
	Fouls Half1 Half2 Final   San Francisco Seals 6 4 10  Orange County Blue Stars 5 5 10
	Corners Half1 Half2 Final   San Francisco Seals 1 3 4  Orange County Blue Stars 4 1 5