The Salt Lake Sting's regular-season home schedule ended perfectly Saturday night. A crowd of 9,439 showed up at Derks Field and stayed until the end, thanks partly to promised fireworks. The Sting held a one-goal lead until the last 20 seconds, when George Pastor's penalty kick wrapped up things nicely. And with the 2-0 victory over the San Diego Nomads, the Sting finished the evening in first place in the Western Soccer League.
What more could anybody want?The way things are looking now, the Sting could well return to Derks for a playoff game - and the big news is, they'd welcome that opportunity. Only last month, the cloud hanging over the Sting was their habit of losing home matches. As midfielder Craig Huft said Saturday, "Nobody's talking about that anymore." Not after the Sting's (12-7) fifth straight victory, certainly.
All that remains is for the Sting to clinch a playoff berth, which could happen as early as tonight, depending on the Seattle-Portland result. The playoff situation - and the battle for first place and a first-round bye - may not be resolved until Aug. 11, when the Sting visit San Francisco Bay.
The Sting will play the U.S. junior national team in an exhibition at Derks Friday, but Saturday's match was the official close of the Sting's first home season. Just to give the festivities a slightly different look, the Sting revealed a new, defensive-minded approach that Coach Laurie Calloway is preaching for the playoffs.
"You can't expect to score three and four goals every day," reasons Calloway.
The early returns: Calloway's strategy is working, if a shutout means anything.
Goalkeeper Paul Parkinson was steady and receives credit for the blanking, but the most noticeable work was done by defenders Paul Tell and Joe Silveira.
"Did Parkinson make a save all night?" wondered Calloway. "They had a lot of pressure on us . . . but we never looked in danger of losing a goal. (Parkinson) was never really exposed in a one-on-one situation."
The Sting have played relatively exciting soccer this season and have profited from the league standings' scoring system, which awards bonuses for every goal up to three. Calloway's thinking is that since no extra points come into effect in the playoffs, a 1-0 win is as good as any.
That's what the Sting would have had Saturday, except Alta High product Shane Jones broke free into the goal area and was tackled in the last 20 seconds, resulting in a penalty kick. Pastor took the kick and drilled a line drive to the right of San Diego goalkeeper Anton Nistl for the 2-0 final.
The Sting's opening goal came in the last two minutes of the first half, when Huft headed the ball into the lower right corner of the net. Derek Sanderson's crossing pass was deflected twice and right to the 5-foot-6 Huft, who redirected the ball for his first goal of the season.
"(Huft) is remarkable in the air, for his size," said Calloway.
While the Sting have frequently come from behind in second halves, all they had to do this time was protect the lead. The Nomads (7-9), known as a defense-oriented team, loosened up in the second half and had a few scoring chances, but Silveira and Tell helped to turn them away and San Diego's Arturo Velazco sent one straight-on kick over the crossbar to protect Parkinson's shutout.