Chaos douses FireBall's win streak in a contest shortened by weather
The hottest team in the United States Soccer Leagues Premier Development League got cooled off Saturday by the weather.
West Virginia's Tim Bender (right) and Augusta's Ryan Roushandel battle for control of the ball at Patriots Park. Augusta won Friday, 6-0, but lost to the same team, 1-0, in Saturday's truncated match.
Photo by Michael Holahan
The Augusta FireBall (4-1) lost their first game over the weekend, 1-0, to the West Virginia Chaos in a game that was called off shortly after the half because of inclement weather. According to league rules, a game can be considered an official match if it lasts longer than the first half.
West Virginia's Kirk Gibson scored in the fifth minute for the lone goal of the game.
"We were ready to respond in that second half," Augusta coach Jay Miller said. "And I think, even in that five or six minutes that we got in, I thought that we were turning it around.
"We proved that we can come back from early deficits, and this is what your team needs to be tested at doing. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to do that."
The FireBall dominated the Chaos on Friday for a 6-0 win.
In that game, Augusta got two goals each from Mark Buchholz and Jason McLaughlin and a goal apiece from Ryan Roushandel and Michael Biggs.
Goalkeeper Justin Papadakis, of Duke, earned his third shutout of the season and has given up only two goals all season.
"Tonight, it was really nice," Papadakis said Friday. "The guys on the offense really picked it up. It was nice to have a little pressure taken off. But still, our back four did an excellent job. It definitely took some pressure off our defense."
Morris News Service contributed to this report.