Sting Coach Laurie Calloway hadn't worried a lot about the club's four-goal loss last week in Seattle because of the circumstances on some of the goals.
Now, he sees a pattern he doesn't like following Saturday night's 2-1 loss to Western Soccer League South leader Real Santa Barbara in Derks Field."We don't seem to get it right defensively, and that's a concentration thing," Calloway said, adding that Salt Lake made two defensive mistakes in the game, both in the second half, and both ended up in the Sting's net.
"We gave Seattle three goals last week, and we gave Santa Barbara two, and until we stop doing that, we're not going to be able to win," said Calloway, whose club fell to 6-6, 3-4 at home.
Santa Barbara moved to 7-3, but Calloway was unimpressed.
"We totally dominated them, but that's not the point, is it?" Calloway said. "I don't think they won it. I think we lost it.
"They must feel like highway robbers," Calloway said.
He said Real Santa Barbara had few offensive chances and disputed the number of shots, 18, saying most were from 30 yards out or more, where they were harmless. The Sting took 26 shots.
Santa Barbara forward Ben Pollock scored the winning goal in only his second game following the indoor season; he was with Memphis. Pollock said that's how Real plays, offense coming from defense. He said Soviet-born Coach Valery Volostnykh has them playing "like an army; he doesn't talk about offense."
It is not, however, a defensive style. Volostnykh was adamant about that. "No," he said. "Counter-attack. That's more dangerous. I prefer total soccer."
Said Calloway, "Obviously, that's what they're doing, and I think they're very lucky. To me, that's not the way to play the game to entertain people."
There were 6,233 in Derks who were entertained by the Sting until there were about 12 minutes left.
Salt Lake's Kenny Mays had the ball on the left wing, but Santa Barbara's Cesar Plasencia stripped it away, and in a quick exchange, James Thompson hit Pollock 20 yards from the goal.
"You can't allow a guy in there like that," said Calloway, who mentioned Mays but allowed, "The guys were saying he was fouled by the forward."
"It was a great cross from the left," said Pollock. "Just a bullet." It came so fast he didn't know which teammate passed the ball and thought it might have been Plasencia, who kicked Santa Barbara's first goal to make it 1-1 at 50:31, scoring from between Mays and Joe Silveiro, said Calloway. Plasencia, though, credited Thompson for the final pass on the second goal.
Salt Lake outshot Real 12-8 the first half. On their ninth shot, they scored, George Pastor potting his eighth of the season at 21:15 off a direct free kick. It resulted from a yellow card to Santa Barbara sweeper Alex Basso for a tripping tackle from behind that injured Sting midfielder Derek Crothers.
Crothers played out the half but didn't return in the second half, meaning the Sting was without a fourth regular. Defender Steve Sengelmann was suspended for the game because of five yellow cards, defender Chris Wentzien is out with a leg injury and midfielder Earle Davidson, injured in practice last week, sat out the game.
Calloway didn't blame those circumstances for the loss. "One goal is enough to win the game," he answered.