Blitz 2, Elite 1
Utah Blitzz coach Chris Agnello was faced with a dilemma. Push forward despite a 2-1 lead in hopes of tallying that third goal to qualify the Blitzz for the U.S. Open Cup, or play defensive and secure the victory.
Agnello opted for the defensive roll, and it worked as the Blitzz hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Riverside County Elite Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium. It wasn't without some tense moments though as the Elite had two opportunities scream by the post in the final 10 minutes.
"We could've really gone forward for that third goal," said Agnello. "But more important was to get the win."
Stanislaus, which Utah beat Friday, edged the Blitzz 10-9 in their qualify group for the Open Cup, but it didn't taint Saturday's win.
The victory wasn't a coincidence either, some coaching strategy played a part.
Riverside sweeper Neil Armour is a very experienced player having played in the Scottish Premiere League, but "although he has a great soccer mind, he has old legs," said Agnello.
Armour is 34, so Agnello figured he'd play 18-year-old David Hernandez in the first half and then Rich Breza in the second half in hopes of wearing the sweeper out. It was a brilliant strategy because both Hernandez and Breza scored.
Hernandez's goal came at 15:40 of the first half as he headed in a cross from Gavin Galloway.
"He was pretty slow," said Hernandez. "I knew I could get by him because he was just a big brute."
Hernandez worked extra hard during his stay on the field, and it wasn't just because he knew he was only going to play 45 minutes. His parents, Greg and Blanca, drove 12 hours from Southern California to see him play, so naturally he wanted to reward them with a goal.
About 20 minutes after the Blitzz went up 1-0, Riverside's William Cummins scored the equalizer after Utah's offsides trap backfired. Agnello was particularly critical of Utah fullback Adolfo Ovalle on the play. He felt he was out of position on the trap, and five minutes later he was yellow-carded, perhaps out of frustration.
"Ovalle didn't play particularly well, he missed some tackles tonight, and we were worried he might get a second yellow card," said Agnello.
It was a good thing his fear didn't lead to a substitution. In the 70th minute, Matt West outhustled a Riverside defender to a cleared corner kick, and he promptly sent it back into the box. Ovalle was in perfect position to receive the header, but instead of trying to score himself, he fed the ball to Breza, who drilled it in with his head.
"He's a smart enough player to realize he didn't have a good angle, and I've been playing soccer long enough to know he was going to pass it," said Breza, who scored off a similar header combination in Utah's 2-0 win on Friday night.
Not only was the ability to run fresh legs at Riverside vital to the Blitzz's victory, but so was the play of Damion Munoz. The Argentine sweeper was red-carded in Friday's game, and in theory he should've missed his team's following game. But according to league rules this year, on back-to-back night situations, a team has the option of holding him out in one of the next two games.
"Riverside is the top team right now, so we wanted to have Munoz out there tonight instead," said Agnello.
Munoz will miss Utah's next game, a June 3 date with the Nevada Zephyrs at Rice-Eccles Stadium, but that's OK with Agnello. His team is 4-2-1, on top of the Western Conference in the D3 League, and getting better.
The attendance in Utah's second home game was 4,218. Many of them were kids, who were still patiently waiting for autographs 45 minutes after the game. And the Blitzz players signed until there were no kids left.