(DUDLEY FIELD, El Paso, TX) - The El Paso Patriots returned home to Dudley scalded after their third straight loss last weekend, but still firmly in the hunt in a tightening Central Division race, and in front of a national television audience on Fox SportsWorld El Paso defeated Team Calgary, 3-1, to regain second place in the division.
The Patriots (8-10-2, 26 points) lead Cincinnati (8-10-0, 24 points) by two points going into the Riverhawks home match with fourth-place division rival Milwaukee Saturday.
Team Calgary (4-13-2, 14 points) remains in the cellar of the Pacific Division, and played its first match since being taken over by the United Soccer Leagues this week.
For the first time El Paso head coach Jesus "Chuy" Enriquez started leading scorer Laurenco Andrade and Omar Mora up front together, which proved to be a brilliant move.
Mora, who seems to finally be getting into form after a long season with Mexican First Division-A side CD Zacatepéc, proved to be a constant thorn in the side of the Calgary defense; and Andrade, who was also the leading scorer for First Division-A Cobras de Ciudád Juárez, played unselfishly, pushing beautiful lead passes in for Mora's finishing touch.
In the 20th minute, Andrade dropped a beautiful lead ball from midfield up front for a hard-charging Mora, who ripped a far-post shot past Team Calgary goalkeeper David Wiebenga into the right upper 90 for Mora's first goal of the season.
Just 16 minutes later the tandem hooked up again, displaying deft one-touch moves against a frozen Calgary defense. Once again, it was Andrade's pass who set up Mora from eight yards out, shooting a slow-moving but accurate ball past Wiebenga, who had come off his line to challenge.
And so it went for the rest of the half, but the second half Team Calgary came to life due almost entirely to the efforts of defender Sean Fraser. Ironically, though he had no shots, Fraser's speed was well-utilized by Calgary coach Tommy Wheeldon, who sent the diminutive backliner forward to challenge the quick El Paso defense.
Challenge he did, and in the 55th minute was promptly brought down in the box by Patriots defender Joel Rios.
Referee Misail Tsapos immediately pointed to the penalty spot, and midfielder Nik Zuniga planted his shot firmly left of middle past El Paso goalkeeper Scott Alexander to cut the deficit in half.
Team Calgary continued to make progress against a Patriots' team that seemed to lose its concentration after going up by two.
But after subbing in fresh blood El Paso regained its composure and its two-goal lead. In the 61st minute Calgary midfielder Conrad Chala took down substitute forward Michael Griego inches outside the Calgary 18-yard box.
After Tsapos awarded the direct kick, Griego put the icing on the Patriots cake with an unforgiving shot, driving the ball through the Calgary wall and by a diving Weibenga for the final goal of the night.
El Paso next plays in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, hosting the PDL's Fresno Fuego Tuesday at 7 p.m. MDT. The winner advances to play the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer in the fourth round, Wednesday, August 6th in Los Angeles.
EL PASO 3, TEAM CALGARY 1
Scoring: ELP Mora (20, Andrade), ELP Mora (36, Andrade), TC Zuniga (55, PK), ELP Griego (71).
TEAM CALGARY: David Weibenga, Sean Fraser, Liam DaSilva (38, Ian Clarke), Thomas Wheeldon, C.J. Pezsneker, Jordan Gillespie, Conrad Chala, Nik Reyes (82, Brendon Garrity), Nik Zuniga (86, Jermaine Richards), Dwayne Gareau (60, Keegan Thomas), Mark Korthuis.
EL PASO: Scott Alexander, Carlos Martinez, Joel Rios, Hamlet Diaz, Freddy Juárez (89, Guillermo McFarlane), Mauricio Rocha, Junro Narita (83, Mario Garcia), Javier Carrazco (45, Ahmed Figueroa), Enrique Cervantes (73, Tim Pierce), Laurenco Andrade, Omar Mora (61, Michael Griego).
Shots: TC 1-3-4, ELP 6-4-10. Saves: TC 3-2-5, ELP 0-2-2. Fouls: TC 9-7-16, ELP 9-9-18. Offsides: TC 2-0-0, ELP 1-4-5. Corner Kicks: TC 0-1-1, ELP 5-2-7. Cautions: TC 2 (Korthuis 27, Chala 69), ELP 2 (Diaz 56, Rocha 89). Officials: Misail Tsapos, Aric Bonner, Gibby Widner, Andrew Gage. Attendance: 1,815.
