Blitzz hold off Gauchos to advance

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 21, 2004 by Michael Black Deseret Morning News

"If it's not pretty, so be it. We just need to advance."

Those were the words from coach Chris Agnello following Utah's 2- 1 victory over the San Diego Gauchos in the Western Conference finals of the Premier Soccer League on Friday.

With the win, the Blitzz advance to the National Semifinals for the fifth straight year, but this was a game the team almost let slip away. Utah controlled the play in the opening minutes, but had to hold off a late comeback.

Forwards Byron Carmichael and Jason Boyce were creating dangerous scoring chances. The midfielders were outclassing the Gauchos. BJ McNichol and Matt Evans dominated the play in the middle of the field, and Jorge Estrada and Alejandro Gutierrez sprinted up the sidelines on dangerous runs. The only problem was that controlling the play and having quality opportunities to score does not win games. Putting the ball in the net wins games.

"I thought our finishing was poor," Agnello said. "We found ourselves in a game that was tight, and it didn't need to be."

The Blitzz jumped out front early. When Evans was acquired earlier in the season, one of the main reasons the team liked him was his ability to take free kicks. In the ninth minute Evans showed his specialty by taking a kick and rifling a shot by the wall and past the keeper from 25 yards out.

Other than Evans' free kick, Utah could not capitalize on its chances. Gutierrez missed two nearly point-blank shots, and McNichol, on an open net, shanked a ball over the top of the goal from only a couple of yards out. San Diego goalie Brandon Hearron also made many highlight-reel saves to keep the score 1-0 at the half.

"We had three or four chances there in the first half that we should get. If we can just get one of those, maybe they don't come out and fight as hard," Agnello said.

Boyce joined the Blitzz only a couple of months ago, and his signing has been paying dividends. In the 54th minute of the contest he gave Utah an insurance goal that it would need.

"They gave me a lot of space out there, and I saw the back post open so I just hit it," said Boyce. The shot was from nearly 30 yards on the right-half of the field. Boyce struck it with his left foot and watched it bend perfectly to the top-left corner of the net.

The goal also seemed to make Utah a little complacent. "We started going away from the things that gave us success," said Boyd.

The momentum swung toward San Diego, and the Gauchos made it even more interesting in the 65th minute when Herculez Gomez scored by heading a ball to the corner of the net, but the Utah defense would hold off a late flurry.

Utah will host the winner of the Harrisburg vs. Pittsburgh semifinal that is taking place this weekend in a home-and-home series. The game will be Saturday, Aug. 28 at 3 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium with the winner advancing the national championship.

E-mail: mblack@desnews.com