Knights edge Flames on Kramer's golden goal

July 2, 2004
A TALE OF TWO HALVES..AND AN OT
Knights edge Flames on Kramer's golden goal

By Dylan Butler
BigAppleSoccer.com Assistant Editor

Maspeth, N.Y. — It was a tale of two halves Friday night at the Metropolitan Oval, two halves and an overtime to be exact.

When it was over the Brooklyn Knights, which dominated the Westchester Flames in the first half before giving up a pair of second half goals in a role reversal, walked away with a well-deserved 3-2 overtime win.

After assisting on the game’s opening goal — a 25-yard rocket by Richie Lesmes — Danny Kramer provided the heroics less than two minutes into the first of two 10-minute overtime periods.

Flames keeper Benjamin Kartzman, making his debut this season, got a hand on Kramer’s shot but the ball bounced into the net from 16 yards out to lift the Knights to its second win in three days.

“I told the players they were tasked to do one of the most difficult things in the sport, to give up two goals and in overtime, when the momentum was the other way, to change it,” said Knights coach Dan Fisher. “They showed a lot of heart and Danny Kramer did a good job, he was the player of the game by far.”

Meanwhile for Westchester, which viewed the weekend as a golden opportunity to garner six critical points in the Northern Division standings, it was a second straight loss heading into Sunday’s derby match with the Long Island Rough Riders.

“It’s very disappointing and defensively we’re very weak right now,” said Westchester coach Gus Skoufis. “Every game we start very badly. Back there, there are too many mistakes and the results show.”

In the first half the Knights (6-7-1) looked anything like a team that had just played Wednesday, albeit in an easy 5-1 win over the New Jersey Stallions. The Knights, which fell 3-2 in overtime to the Flames on June 6, dominated the opening 45 minutes.

They had a 16-4 edge in shots and a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard thanks to Lesmes’ brilliant blast in the 33rd minute and an unassisted goal by Josh Trott six minutes later.

“When you play these (Pro Soccer League) teams, usually they’re a little bit older and they give you some more space to play,” said Knights captain Billy Gatti. “When you play PDL teams there’s a lot of high pressure, a lot of running around. They gave us some space, we got confidence and we started playing.”

But the Flames (5-4-2) regrouped after the break as playmaker Alex Tobon-Villa replaced an injured Chris Musinski at the start of the second half. Tobon-Villa was penciled into the starting lineup but was a late scratch because he was a late arriver.

Almost immediately the Flames cut its deficit in half as Evaud Thompson beat Knights keeper Billy Gatti on a rebound in front of the net less than two minutes into the second half.

“Alex is a gamer and an impact player,” Skoufis said of Tobon-Villa. “We missed him in the first half.”

Juan-Carlos Gomez followed with the dramatic equalizer three minutes from full time when he lunged backwards and headed Kwame Richardson’s cross from the corner flag inside the far post from 14 yards out.

Momentum, it seemed, was squarely in the corner of the more experienced Pro Soccer League side. But then Kramer ended the game with his first goal of the year.

“We probably were the more skillful, the fitter team but they had the experience and they managed to comeback,” Gatti said. “But at the end the willingness and the hunger to win the game showed and we got a goal at the end.”

The Knights, which are 4-1-1 in their last six games, head to New England next weekend to take on the Cape Cod Crusaders Saturday night and the Rhode Island Stingrays Sunday afternoon. The Flames host Giovanni Savarese and the Long Island Rough Riders Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at City Park Stadium in New Rochelle.

Brooklyn Knights
Billy Gatti; Pablo Orantes, Leo Asencio (Chris Lefferts-68), Steve Reuter, Rob Fucci; Danny Kramer, Carlos Moncaleano, Hemir Niebles (Ricardo Coelho-84), Richie Lesmes (Christos Zisimatos-62); Chris Megaloudis (Andre Borges-70), Josh Trott.

Westchester Flames
Benjamin Kartzman; Danny Parkin, Frank Gizzo, Chris Musinski (Alex Tobon-Villa-45), Julian Kapaj; Roberto Esquivel, Fredy Nava, Juan-Carlos Gomez, Kwame Richardson (Julian Vergara-87); Andres Gomez (Chikudi Richardson-74), Evaud Thompson.

Scoring

Brooklyn — Richie Lesmes (Danny Kramer) 33
Brooklyn — Josh Trott 39
Westchester — Evaud Thompson 47
Westchester — Juan-Carlos Gomez (Kwami Richardson) 87

Discipline

Westchester — Evaud Thompson (yellow card) 64
Brooklyn — Andre Borges (yellow card) 81
Westchester — Julian Kapaj (yellow card) 90

Attendance — 150

07/04/2004