USL Super Y-League North American Finals
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
BRANDON, Fla. – Goalkeeper Ryan Baird scored the decisive goal of a penalty shootout in the 10th round before turning aside a shot from his Kalamazoo Kingdom counterpart Nick Strait as Ironbound SC won its second consecutive USL Super Y-League North American Championship 8-7 in penalties after the two teams had finished regulation and overtime tied 1-1.
Baird shot low to the right with the first shot of the 10th round, and then when Strait went the same way got down well to turn his shot around the right post, starting the celebration for his teammates.
“I know many goalkeepers, and they usually go [to my] left side,” Baird said. “I was very confident in that side, and it worked out perfectly.”
The drama of a shootout was certainly an appropriate way to end a game that had seen its fair share of twists and turns. Kalamazoo, which had defeated Ironbound 4-0 when they met in group play on Sunday, made another positive start and twice came close to opening the scoring. First Dom Hunter blazed over the crossbar as Ironbound struggled to clear a free kick, and then Matt Davis struck a fine shot that went just off-target from 20 yards after a defensive error.
It was Ironbound that took the lead, though, as Lucas Terci struck, firing in from the left side of the penalty area in the 27th minute. The lanky attacking midfielder, who was an All-Tournament selection a year ago after Ironbound’s first title, finished this year’s tournament with seven goals and four assists in five games, another remarkable haul.
Ironbound almost added to its lead shortly after, Almir Batista Jr. seeing his shot from 25 yards turned aside, but the one-goal lead stood until halftime.
Kalamazoo regained control after the break, and set about trying to find an equalizer with Carlos Suarez and Corey Werner-Hoskins proving active in attack. After Hunter Vandenboom had a goal ruled out for offside, Werner-Hoskins had a diving header saved from a corner and shortly after Suarez stabbed a shot from the top of the penalty area wide of the right post.
Then with 24 minutes to go Ironbound was reduced to 10 men as Evan Marques was sent off for a dangerous challenge. That allowed Kalamazoo to push more players forward, and Nick Wysong almost found an equalizer soon after, his sliding effort to get to a low cross going wide. Wysong also hit a rising shot that went just over the bar from 20 yards, but then with seven minutes to go Kalamazoo was awarded a penalty for a foul in the area and Suarez made no mistake from the spot, shooting high into the left corner.
Suarez went close to winning the game in regulation, a low shot from the left side of the penalty area finding the side-netting, but with fatigue setting in neither side was able to muster much in the way of opportunities in the two overtime sessions.
So the game went to a shootout, with each side exchanging goals and misses in the first four rounds to leave things tied 2-2 entering the fifth. Each side then reeled off five consecutive makes, until Baird finally stopped Strait in the 10th round to give his side victory.
“It’s always tough,” Ironbound coach Agostinho Freitas said. “They’re a very good side, they beat us heavily during the group stages 4-0, they play us well. They’re hard, they run, they’re a very good team, very well coached, they stay centralized, it’s hard for us. For the boys, it was great, coming back and winning it again was the best thing that could have happened to us.”
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