Westchester Flames Capitalize on Good Fortune

(New Rochelle, NY - 05/22/2004) - The Westchester Flames (2-1-2, 8 points) were able to overcome an early mistake to defeat the Northern Virginia Royals (0-7-0, 0 points) 3-1 on Saturday at City Park Stadium. Completely dominating the Royals, the Flames should have won by a much larger margin.

For about the first twenty minutes, the air was stagnant and so was the play. Defender Mersim Beskovic, who scored the tying goal for the Flames via a penalty kick in the 20th minute, said, "It was totally silent out there today. There were no birds singing or flying around. The air was just still. It was almost unnerving. It bothered the players as we're used to heaing all that peripheral noise."

Three minutes after Beskovic scored, it felt like the confluence of the Bermuda Triangle, as he shot the ball towards the goal, only to have it hit a ducking Evaud Thompson in the back of the head and go over the goalkeeper and into the goal. Needless to say, the crowd errupted. No more silence. No more stillness. No more unnerving the players. Both teams came alive.

At just about the same time, the weather changed with the temperature dropping almost 15 degrees in a matter of minutes. This energized both teams, with the Flames responding the most. They poured on the pressure going into the half. The second half was no different as they continued to pepper Royals goalkeeper, David Noyes, with 13 shots and forcing him to make 9 saves.

Forward Thompson closed the scoring for the Flames in the 70th minute as he took a feed from midfielder Alex Tobon-Villa. His goal was the team-leading 4th of the season.

Under moderate pressure during the game, Flames goalkeeper Guillermo Valencia said, "We had so many chances today that we did not put away. We need to make sure we do this so we don't feel under pressure at the end of the game, even with a two goal lead. Things can change in an instant."

After the game today, it's obvious, anything is possible.

The Flames next travel to New Hampshire on the 29th and return home on Sunday, June 6th to face the Brooklyn Knights.

Northern Virginia : Noyes 0, Kish - 2, Evering - 6, Dunn - 10, Whitham - 20 (Ronsholdt - 14 @ 72nd), Cannon - 9, Andrade - 13, Salas - 17 (Nabih - 7 @ 67th), Mitchell - 21, O'Conner - 8 , Osborne - 19

Westchester Flames : Valencia - 1, Beskovic - 2, Piturro - 4, Gallo - 8 (Kapaj - 3 @75th), Musinski - 20 (Gizzo - 6 @ 62nd), Tobon-Villa - 15 (C. Richardson - 18 @ 84th), Nosta - 22 (Nava - 7 @ 37th), Esquivel - 23, K. Richardson - 24 (Parkin - 5 @ 54th), Thompson - 9, Camara - 29

Goals / Time / Assists:
NoVA: Cannon / 10 th Min / Mitchell
West: Beskovic / PK / 20th min
West: Thompson / 23rd min / Beskovic
West: Thompson / 70th min / Tobon-Villa

Statistics: Westchester / Northern Virginia
Shots: 19 / 8
Saves: 4 / 410
Fouls: 11 / 13
Offsides: 4 / 2
Corners: 10 / 2

Cautions:
West: Piturro / 18th / Yellow
NoVA: Salas / 45th / Yellow
West: Parkin / 57th / Yellow

Officials: Stevan Ambrus, Pat Pinzon, Braulio Barbecho, Seth Fleitman

Attendance: 187

05/22/2004