Match Report: Flames @ Barons

Friday, July 22, 2005

By Paul O'Donnell
Ocean City Barons Correspondent

The Barons maintained their undefeated record at home with a 3-1 decision over the Westchester Flames tonight. It was a game where the Barons dominated play for most of the match, especially in the opening 45. Despite their control of the game the Barons were frustrated by shots blocked by the defense and a number of fine saves by Hulaire who was also helped by the woodwork. In the 21st minute a Ryan Heins cross found the head of Michael Todd whose strong header caught the crossbar.

In the 25th Tony Donatelli put Todd in space wide right and his strong shot produced a nice kick save by Hulaire. In the 35th Todd found Adam Williamson who made a nice move on his defender finding some space in the box but his strong left footed drive was narrowly wide of the far post and the half ended at 0-0.

In the 48th Williamson returned the favor but Donatelli's shot was covered by Hulaire.

In the 52nd John Thompson stepped up and cut out a weak pass by the Flames defense and broke into the box wide right. His fine cross found Todd alone and he poked it past Hulaire for the opening goal.

In the 55th Ruben Mingo put Williamson in but his high drive to the top corner sailed just over. The Barons pressure produced another good chance in the 59th when Mingo found Donatelli alone in the middle and his pass put Todd in again, and he made no mistake and it was 2-0 Barons.

In the 63rd Neil Holloway stepped up and snatched another weakly played ball by the Flames in their own end and he made it 3-0 Barons.

Then in the 70th minute Altcheck produced the highlight of the night with a stunning high laser shot to the far post side netting, up where the spiders hide out, making the final score 3-1 Ocean City.

The Barons close out their regular season campaign Sunday night against the Brooklyn Knights in their final bid to keep their unblemished home record intact.

Ocean City then moves on hosting the Eastern Conference Playoffs next weekend in the first step on the way to the PDL Championship weekend. The playoffs kick off on Saturday, July 30 at 5pm with the first semifinal, and the Barons will play their semi in a 7:30 kickoff following the opener.

The Barons opponent will be the Mid Atlantic Conference regular season winner the Richmond Kickers Future who lost their 1st game of the season tonight 3-2 at home to the Carolina Dynamo. It was the Future's parent team, the USL Div 1 Richmond Kickers, that knocked the Barons out of the US Open Cup with their record breaking 3rd round win 8-4.