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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 21, 2004 Getting that monkey off their backs By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Three shut-outs later, the Southern Oregon Fuego finally found the back of the net on Saturday night against the Nike FC Swoosh. Fuego's Jeremy Warner tussles with a Swoosh player during the first half of the men's exhibition soccer game on Saturday at Phillips Field in Ashland. Warner scored one of two Fuego goals in the 4-2 loss. Satsuki Doi | Ashland Daily Tidings The strike came in the 21st minute, after two Swoosh successful scoring drives, when Fuego forward Dylan Luckey moved the ball into the goalie box and passed to forward Davey Grantland. Grantland tapped the ball to forward Jeremy Warner, who sailed the ball into the left side of the goal. "We definitely needed it at this point in the season," Warner said. "I think it was important for us to get that [goal]." It was the first score Fuego celebrated since Warner scored 10 minutes into the second half of a 2-all tie versus La Liga del Valle on May 29. "The morale was really down after losing the last three games," first-year Fuego head coach Radovan Dhuly-Smith said. "The players don't trust themselves. I think part of it is the lack of confidence." However, Fuego would need more than one - or two - goals to power past the Swoosh, and Fuego finished the 90-minute exhibition match with just two scores. Swoosh topped the southern Oregon squad 4-2. "I don't think the score was indicative of the actual play," Warner said. "I think we out-played them. I think we played the best game we've played in weeks." Fuego left the first half trailing 4-1, after the Swoosh scored when Wayne Waier headed a corner kick past Fuego goalkeeper Mike Welch in the 41st minute and then tallied another point during extra time. The second half, once again, saw a different Fuego team take the field. While Fuego didn't score again until the final seconds of the game, the play evened out to the point where the Swoosh wasn't throttling Fuego up and down the field. "They really came back in the second half," Dhuly-Smith said. "The energy was really high. They were hungry and they just worked really hard. They were playing together." The team effort didn't go unnoticed, as Fuego threatened to score again and again. However, the team failed to complete multiple scoring drives, always bobbling the ball near the goalkeeper and missing the chance to strike. "We definitely didn't finish a couple of opportunities," Fuego team captain Iman Siadat said. "I think it's going to take some time to get these guys to believe they can score against big teams." Finally, in the 88th minute, Fuego defender Mike Kuchman, accompanied by Luckey and Grantland, plowed upfield and hit the Swoosh keeper with a three-on-one attack to bring the score to 4-2. The goose egg Six games into Fuego's seven-game summer exhibition schedule, the team remains winless. Although the team understood learning a the total soccer system of play, which differs drastically from the recreation soccer strategies most players learn throughout their soccer careers, the combination of inexperience and the caliber of opponents has left Fuego 0-1-5 on the season. "It's frustrating to everyone," Warner said. "It's hard to keep the morale up. At this point, I think ending it well means everyone coming together." Fuego's final game will be on July 10 at Phillips Field against the Metro Rangers, a U-19 national finalist last year. A game on June 26th was canceled, giving the squad three weeks to regroup before the finale. Still, the team isn't terribly attached to the idea of winning a game. "At this point, I think ending it well will mean everyone coming together," Warner said. "I think tonight we kind of built as a team - it was apparent in our play. "If we don't win, that's OK," he continued, "as long as we lose together." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams