Day 6 at Virginia Beach, Virginia
In a match that was a tale of two halves, it was the Virginia Beach Mariners who held a 1-0 lead at halftime, but it was the visiting Richmond Kickers who would run over the home side like a hurricane hitting the Tidewater area, exploding for four goals in the second half en route to a 4-2 win over the Mariners, completing a 3-0-1 series domination over the Mariners for 2004.
Virginia Beach's Jeff Bilyk shields the ball from Tony Williams
It took thirteen minutes before either side would threaten, when from a free kick, Dustin Swinehart's header was deflected by a Mariner defender, and Kevin Knight's attempted header on the rebound was also blocked. One minute later, the Mariners had a good chance of their own, when a pass from Nate Winkel found Dante Washington briefly open inside the box, but his shot was blocked by Knight.
In the 20th minute, Virginia Beach's Jose Gomez made a good run all the way to the Kickers endline, and made a good turn and got off a low shot that required a tricky diving save from Kickers goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale.
In the 25th minute, the home side broke through first when a header from Washington back into the box appeared to be played back by Winkle to a charging Hamisi Amani-Dove, who blasted a spinning shot just inside the right post to put the Mariners up 1-0. Though it appeared another player did play the ball after Washington, it was Dante who was officially credited with the assist.
Five minutes later, the Kickers came very close to tying the score when a cross from Matt Delicate found Richie Williams in the box, but his diving header was just over the bar. Six minutes later, the Mariners had a good chance when a shot from Washington from outside the box required Pascale to make a sprawling save to keep out, having apparently been caught by surprise by the quick shot. The half ended with the home Mariners leading 1-0.
It didn't take very long into the second half for the Kickers to respond, when in the 49th minute, on the first good scoring opportunity of the half, Michael Burke found Joey Worthen open in the box, and Worthen easily placed the ball just inside the left post to even the score at 1-1. One minute later, the Kickers had a great chance to take the lead when Delicate had a break away and was one-on-one with Mariners keeper Matt Nelson, but Nelson made a good reaction save to keep the match tied. But just one minute after this play, the Kickers did take the lead, when Tony Williams' pass to Delicate was slipped inside the right post from near the top of the box to put the Kickers up 2-1.
But the Kickers weren't done yet. Only four minutes later, in the 55th minute, the Kickers scored their third goal in less than seven minutes when Delicate's crossing pass to David Hayes was put into the right side of the net from 20 yards out to widen the lead to 3-1.
In the 64th minute, the Mariners pulled a goal back when Washington's cross was knocked into the left side of the net by Pato Aguilera from twenty yards out to pull the Mariners back to 3-2.
But nine minutes later, the Kickers slammed the door shut when in the 74th minute, Richie Williams' cross was headed in by Delicate from only about four yards away to put the lead at 4-2 for the Kickers.
Each team had a few late chances, but neither team could find the net again, and in the end, the Kickers had finished their season series with the Mariners with 10 points gained from those matches, while the Mariners had managed only a single point.
