Posted Jun 8, 2012, 7:11 am
FC Tucson ended their Utah trip with an emphatic 3-0 win over the Ogden Outlaws on Thursday night.
Tucson opened up the scoring early after the team earned a corner kick. Max Alvarez sent the ball to an onrushing James Cohn, who flicked it to Philippe Garre. Garre sent it home giving Tucson the lead.
Alvarez served up the second goal too. In the waning minutes of the second half, he passed the ball to Travis Campbell who found the back of the net.
Alvarez was able to score on his own in the second half when the team was awarded a penalty kick.
The win is Tucson's sixth shut-out and puts the team at a division and league-leading 18 points. They have three games in short order next week: Los Angeles Misioneros on Thursday, followed by a trip to Ventura to face second place Ventura County Fusion. They will stay in California to face the Misioneros on the following Monday.
What do we do now?
Yes, FC Tucson has been winning games. Until Thursday, all of those wins have been one-goal matches. Even in their one loss, back on May 5 against Fresno Fuego, the team scored one goal.
"They scored a second goal and I didn't know what to do," said coach Rick Schantz after the game.
Schantz has been saying for a couple of weeks that the goals would come after the team "gelled." The improvement, he believes, was facilitated by this week's extended road trip that took them to Provo and Ogden.
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"It was like preseason camp," he said. "The players were together and they learned to count on each other."
"Credit to Yoshi (Henry Brauner) and Jeff Rogers," he said of his assistants. "They were adamant about getting the guys out to walk, and making sure they rested."
The team's next three games will not be easy. Not only are they playing three in a five-day span, but the games are against some of the better teams in the conference. Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup results won't help either. Several players from the Cal FC squad that caused so much havoc in that tournament are now ready to return to Ventura County and LA Misioneros.
"It doesn't get easier," said Schantz. "We don't want it to get easier."
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