"We got inside their heads," jubilant ACFC midfielder Dan Klein said following the match, a game which saw three Perya players ejected late in the second half."Our boys not only outplayed Perya, but kept our cool and maintained the level of class we are known for and displayed all season long," coach Billy Alarcon added.
Angel City started the match back on its heels with FC Perya pressing for a goal from the opening whistle. Previous encounters had always produced very physical play ... but the ACFC defence -- under captain Kirby Adams and keeper Peter Marlenga -- were up for the task, stonewalling all Perya chances at the outset with blocked shots and clean slide tackles.
An overall level of calm and patience paid off for Angel City, who began to work the ball around, creating several counterattacking options which forced Perya's defensive hand. At the 21-minute mark Ben O'Meara struck a free kick outside the box and in the resulting scramble David "Puma" Alarcon slotted the squad's opening goal into the back meshing.
Fourteen minutes later Brandon Cole made a run up field, spliting the Perya defense and knocking a pass over to O'Meara who shot across the face of the goal, past a sprawling Perya keeper and just inside the right post. The second goal seemed to unsettle Perya, who started to get more aggressive with their tackles, even in their own defensive box. ACFC were awarded a penalty kick for one such take down (the team's first PK of the season), but a good save by the Perya keeper kept the score 2-0 at the half.
Early in the second half produced what was to be the turning point for the match, with a handball in the box awarding Perya a penalty kick about 10 minutes in. But keeper Peter Marlenga came up big in the goal, diving to his left and deadening the ball in his gloves to keep his shutout alive. In what can only be described as a Will Ferrell moment, Marlenga -- who was named the final's MVP -- jumped up with a big grin and repeated ... "I got the ball .... look, I got the ball ... here it is ... the ball."
Ben O'Meara then went on a rampage, tearing up the Perya defence at the 59-minute mark and knocking in his second goal past an increasingly irrate Perya keeper. O'Meara's tenth goal on the season handed him the squad's scoring title.
From then on Perya lost its cool with repeated taunts to the referee and heavier tackles. After one foiled breakaway by ACFC's Russ Muratov, the Perya keeper decided to have a go at Muratov. The resulting altercation saw the keeper ejected and Muratov given a yellow card for defending himself. ACFC then went to their side of the field while Perya continued to argue with referees. Two more red cards (one a second yellow) saw the Perya numbers dwindle to eight players on the field.
With the game now in hand, Angel City played a passing match for the remaining 20 minutes. Sheldon Mitchell notched his first goal of the season at the 80-minute mark off a Marius Sandvik pass. And Sandvik capped the cup win ... and the season ... with a knock in goal, following a shot from playing manager Ben Kull, which was juggled by Perya's replacement keeper.
In regular season play, Angel City topped the Div. C tables with 12 wins, one tie and a loss. In the consolation final, scheduled for the 7 PM timeslot, the second-place Blue Eagles defaulted to the fourth place Zig Zag Jaro about three hours before kickoff.
The Angel City FC 11s squad are:
Coach: Billy Alarcon
Manager: Ben Kull
Goal: Pete Marlenga, Dave Styles
Defense: Kirby Adams, Rahoul Ghose, Bryan Moore, Dan Stafford, Leo Wallach, Pete Wasek
Midfield: Dave Alarcon, Tom Bry, Dan Klein, Matthew McCallum, Sheldon Mitchell, Ben O’Meara, Matt Onheiber,
Marius Sandvik, David Woirhaye
Forwards: Brandon Cole, Jonny Ibanez, Russ Muratov, Dan Sapienza
Reserve list: Sergei Baranov (m); Mike Gemballa (m); Ben Kull (m)
FINAL FOUR
1) Angel City FC
2) FC Perya
3) Zig Zag Jaro
4) Blue Eagles
GAME STATS FINALS
Goals: Ben O'Meara (2), David Alarcon, Sheldon Mitchell, Marius Sandvik
Assists: Brandon Cole, Marius Sandvik, Ben "I'm back in the game" Kull
MVP: Peter Marlenga
Shutout: Peter Marlenga
Shots: ACFC (13), FC Perya (6)
Corner KIcks: ACFC (3), FC Perya (4)
Yellow Cards: ACFC (2), FC Perya (3)
Red Cards: ACFC (0), FC Perya (3)
**Thanks to an injured Bryan Moore for keeping stats during the final
***A big shout out to all the ACFC fans who came out to cheer on ACFC to victory
I truly don't think I deserve the MVP when it was such a team effort. Congrats to the entire team for a great season and lots of hard play. This is a well deserved championship!
ReplyDeleteget those hands and gloves insured buddy ... bloody gold man
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