Angel City posts trio of essential wins

Angel City posted an essential trio of 7s wins Saturday to remain in contention for the league titles in all three divisions the squads compete in.

ACFC kicked off the day with a hard fought 5-3 win against the Swamp Donkeys, who handed the squad a 6-3 defeat earlier in the season. Tiit Tikenberg and Ben O'Meara each netted a brace, with David Woirhaye capping the scoring. Kudos to Dan "Manos" Stafford for putting the lives of his future children on the line with a key shot block in the ACFC goalmouth while the scoreline was close ... for team and country, as they say.

The two teams are now tied in the Santiago standings for first with six wins and two losses, but according to the league rules ties in the tables are determined by the following factors:

TIE BREAKING METHODOLOGY (in order of process):

1) Head to Head competition in common games during the season with the tied team, greater points total wins.
2) Goals For minus Goals Against in Head to Head Competition with the tied team, the team with the greater differential wins.
3) Goals For minus Goals Against in the league play, the team with the greater differential wins.
4) Total number of goals scored FOR in the league, the team with the greatest number of goals in the league, wins.
5) Coin Toss

This means ACFC must win its last two matches and the Swamp Donkeys have to drop points over the next two weeks. By normal FIFA rules ACFC would be in first as the squad has a much better goal differential than the Donkeys over the entire season: +27 vs +16. Go figure ...

The second match saw the AC Allstars start off slowly against Santa Monica One Touch, dropping two early goals. But by game's end the score was 6-2 with Russ Muratov knocking in a hat-trick and Matt Onheiber taking a brace. Ricardo LeDoux added a single late in the match. The Allstars now sit in second in the Sevilla Division, one point behind the Slutty Buffalos, who they play in two weeks. Two wins are a must. The Allstars -- with a GD of +33 -- lost their first encounter with the Buffalos 5-4. The Buffalos' GD sits at +14. Out of the three Angel City 7s squads, the Allstars have the bets odds at taking the club's first 7s title.

Rounding out the morning, Angel City FC routed the Pommey Bs 13-2, leaving the team in second place in the Setanta Divsion, two points behind the BH Allstars. Estonian superstar Tiit Tikenberg led the charge with a hat trick, followed by Matthew McCallum, Mike Gemballa, David Woirhaye and Marius Sandvik, who each netted a pair. Angel City lost a 8-1 stunner against BH earlier in the season and must post a better win against the side this coming week to move into first. BH has a very impressive +35 Goal Differential over the season vs Angel City FC's +27.

The AC Allstars, ACFC and Angel City FC return to play next Saturday with games at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 AM. All three squads have identical records of six wins and two loses.

Times and fields are available on the team's website Fixtures page.

GAME SCORES AND STATS

AC Allstars (6) vs Santa Monica One Touch (2)

Goals: Russ Muratov (3), Matt Onheiber (2), Ricardo LeDoux
Assists: Michael Sharp, Matt Onheiber (2), Tiit Tikenberg (2), Blake Nickle

ACFC (5) vs Swamp Donkeys (3)

Goals: Tiit Tikenberg (2), Ben O'Meara (2), David Woirhaye

Angel City FC (13) vs Pommey Bs (2)

Goals: Matthew McCallum (2), Mike Gemballa (2), Tiit Tikenberg (3),
David Woirhaye (2), Marius Sandvik (2), David Alarcon, Ivan O'Neil
Assists: Tiit Tikenberg (3), Marius Sandvik (2), Matthew McCallum (2), Mike Gemballa (2), Kirby Adams, David Alarcon, David Woirhaye, Ivan O'Neil,