Calgary Storm Match Reports by Jason Kmet
May 25, 2003 -- Portland Timbers 1 at Calgary Storm 2
STORM FINALLY CUT DOWN TIMBERS
The 2003 A-League schedule maker has arranged for clubs in the Pacific Division to become very familiar with each other. Even though this was only the Calgary Storm's seventh game of the season, they faced the Portland Timbers for the third time this year on Sunday at Foothills Park. The Storm has gone winless in four games last year as well as twice this year against the Timbers. On this pleasant afternoon in front of a modest crowd, the Calgary side finally broke through and defeated Portland for the first time in their history by a score of 2-1.
Portland got out of the gates early in this game. Forward McKinley Tennyson shocked the Calgary team in the second minute by taking a rather weak shot that found the bottom right corner of the goal.
Calgary attempted to equalize in the 7th minute when the dangerous Sean Fraser blew past desperate Timber defender Lee Morrison 25 yards out. Fraser came in on goal but his shot went wide left.
Timber midfielder Scott Benedetti almost put his club up by two in the 11th minute when he bent a free kick that was going to the left side of the net, but Storm keeper David Wiebenga made the save.
In the 14th minute, Storm midfielder Richard Henry made a couple of nifty moves and put a ball through to Ian Dawes, who promptly passed it to an advancing Mark Korthius. Korthius received the ball a bit too close to the challenging Portland keeper Chris Spiteri, who made the save.
Aaron Heinzen of Portland streaked in on the left side in the 18th minute. He worked his way along the end line but his shot was saved by Wiebenga.
The Storm equalized in the 30th minute. Fraser was going in goal and was hauled down right at the boundary of the penalty area. The Portland defenders thought play had been called, and were wondering if a penalty was about to be rewarded. No whistle had been blown. Calgary's Conrad Chala collected the ball and knocked it into the Portland goal unchallenged.
Calgary took the lead during first half injury time. Dawes threaded a neat pass through to Korthius in a similar manner described in the 14th minute. However, Korthius had a bit more room this time and was able to put the ball past Spiteri.
The second half began with a spate of yellow cards on both sides. After that, the Storm went into a defensive shell. They prevented the Timbers from getting any decent chances in regular time. Calgary did not make any offensive forays except on the occasional counterattack. Their most notable chance came in the 86th minute when Fraser launched a blast from 20 yards out on the right side, but the ball went just high and wide.
The Timbers last gasp came during injury time. Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar put a corner kick into the Storm box, but the tight Calgary defense knocked it away, leaving the final Calgary 2 Portland 1. This was the Storm's third win of the year. It came 69 days earlier than their third win last year, which occurred on August 2nd.
| Lineups: |
| Calgary: David Wiebenga, Liam DeSilva, Tommy Wheeldon Jr, Ajai Authers, C.J. Pesznecker, Jordan Gillespie, Conrad Chala, Richard Henry (Nik Reyes 26th), Mark Korthius, Ian Dawes (Michael Kennedy 63rd), Sean Fraser |
| Portland: Curtis Spiteri, Nick Downing, Gavin Wilkinson (Bryn Ritchie 37th), Lee Morrison, Manuel Brasil (Ryan Youngblood 87th), Brian Winters, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Scott Benedetti, Aaron Heintzen, Fadi Afash (Daniel Antoniuk 62nd), McKinley Tennyson |
| Goals: |
| Calgary: Chala (30th), Korthius (45th) |
| Portland: Tennyson (2nd) |
| Cautions: |
| Calgary: Reyes (51st) |
|
Portland: Alcaraz-Cuellar (47th), Benedetti (50th), Downing (90th) |
| Ejections: |
| Calgary: none |
| visitors: none |
| Attendance: unannounced, approximately 600-700 |
| Weather: sunny, about 25C (77F) in first half; cloudy, about 21C (70F) in second half |
STORM WARNINGS:
Richard Henry left the game with an injury in the 26th minute. He was replaced by Nik Reyes, who was making his first appearance after his injury healed. Ian Dawes also returned after missing action...Brett Bachelu and Jamie Auvigne did not dress due to injuries. Bachelu should be available for duty soon...Storm midfielder Nicolas Zuniga missed the game because of suspension...Jamaican import Jermaine Richards was also a scratch because the roster foreign content limit had been reached...Michael Kennedy returned to action for the first time since the club's initial road trip...One of the more interesting individual battle of the game was between Portland's Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar and Jordan Gillespie of the Storm. Gillespie did a good job of keeping the crafty midfielder in check...The next Storm home game is on Sunday, June 1st when the Montreal Impact come to town. Game time is 3:00pm. This match will count in the standings for the Voyageurs Cup. This trophy is awarded to the Canadian A-League club with the best record in matches between other Canadian squads. The competition has been organized by Canadian soccer supporters and their website is http://www.voyageurscup.ca.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? German midfielder Peter Heidler was one of the lone bright spots in the early part of the Storm's 2001 campaign. After head coach Thomas Niendorf was fired, Heidler was released. He has returned to his homeland and is toiling with VfB Poessneck in a German regional league.