Only two weeks into action in the Budweiser Men's Soccer League and already things are heating up as teams are putting forth their best efforts.
In a scheduled week two matchup, the Southern Cobras took on Doosan FC at the Guam Football Association National Training Center in Harmon. Despite being the newer team in Division One, the Cobras managed to cruise past their opponents 6-1 to pick-up their first win of the season.
The Cobras were first to strike on offense and take the first lead of the game. In the 25th minute of play, Austin Cruz used his quickness to get past Doosan defenders and set up a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Raughley Alpet. It was from that point on when Cruz took a shot on the right side to find the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Doosan's early deficit didn't deter them from sticking to their game plan.
In a show of sheer athleticism, Doosan’s Allan Angoco was able to strip the ball from Southern goalie Vincent Carbullido while he fumbled with it on an initial shot block, and easily placed his shot into an undefended goal to equalize the game at 1-1. However, that was all the offense that Doosan could produce against a "locked-down" Cobras defense.
Despite Doosan’s efforts to find shot opportunities, the rest of the game belonged to the Cobras, as Cruz added another goal to his credit before the final whistle, as did teammates Eddie Lee Lorenzo, Adam Rivera, Joedee Reyes, and Jan Flores.
Espada FC and Quality Distributors FC unbeaten
Quality Distributors and the Paintco Strykers managed only one goal each in the first half Saturday evening, but a pair of goals by Quality’s Aric Jorgensen and one from last season’s Golden Boot winner Scott Spindel closed out the Strykers’ hopes to unseat the league’s defending champions. Quality emerged with a 4-2 win over the Strykers by the final whistle. James Bush scored Quality’s other goal. Rico Espinosa scored the Strykers’ first-half goal and Jan-Willem Staman added to his team’s tally in the 75th minute.
Following its 23-0 season opener, the star-studded Espada FC – made up primarily of members of the Matao, Guam men’s national team – was limited to only five goals in its 5-1 match against Guam Shipyard Sunday evening.
The Espada FC’s Elias Merfalen, the current Golden Boot leader, stays atop the goal-scoring standings with two more goals from Sunday’s contest to his six-goal tally in two games. Teammate Ian Mariano also added two goals and Mark Chargualaf scored Espada FC’s other goal. Shipyard’s Ashton Surber foiled Espada FC’s clean sheet in the 89th minute, finishing his run toward the goal despite momentary protest by Espada FC team members that Surber was offsides.
Division II Results
In Sunday’s matches, Shawn Spindel saved the Crushers FC from defeat with a goal in the 79th minute against the Sidekicks for a 3-3 draw.
Despite trailing 2-1 at the half, the Sidekicks’ went to work early in the deciding half with Michael Sgro and Corey Chamberlain scoring within nine minutes of each other to take the lead for the first time in the contest in the 63rd minute. The Sidekicks’ goalkeeper Gian Christian Tenorio made some key saves through the half, but it would be Spindel’s hard shot on the ground that would get past him to prevent a Sidekicks win. John Guerrero and Joshua Pangelinan scored the Crushers FC’s first half goals. Jerrick Cruz scored the Sidekicks’ lone first-half goal.
The FC Shotguns came from behind to defeat the Disasters 5-1. A goal from the Disasters’ Freddy Cepeda in the 27th minute gave his time the 1-0 advantage at halftime, but the FC Shotguns answered back with two second-half goals each from Yu Tanabe and Patrick Sherman. Nohea Villatorre also scored for the FC Shotguns.
