Soccer News: Brett Croft Gets a Quadruple
With a bad habit of starting matches off slow that lead to losing out on two points in their previous match, Santa Clarita Storm made sure the same thing did not happen for their home opener at Golden Valley high School. So when Banning FC had a man sent off after receiving a red card, Storm made a meal of the lesser side getting an 8-0 victory.
Brett Croft scored four goals as the Storm beat Banning FC, winning their United Premier Season Home opener. The second game of the season for Storm (4 points, 1-0-1) saw them start off warmed up as Croft netting a goal in the 3rd minute. Croft opened the scoring right away when the ball was started by Jose Esquivel to the lighting fast Zach Klindworth down the left side who passed to an awaiting Croft who scored.
“This game was crucial for our team (Storm) to get some momentum going into the season and everyone contributed in different ways that helped us get the victory” said Croft. “The opponent was a young group and will benefit from the experience in the future but were not up to the level at the moment.”
Frustration freely flowed from Banning FC (0 points, 0-1-0) as they could gather little possession of the ball causing them to earn an additional five yellow cards on the night to go with the red card. The Storm was able to control the game imposing their will as Banning was not able to adjust to playing with 10-men.
The hosts never had much to worry about playing with a man advantage the Storm defense worked well giving a dominating performance only allowing three shots on goal from a 4-4-2 formation that had Scott Landon playing his natural position of central defender on the back line with Juan Camacho. This set up enabled the Storm to score in the 37th minute as Klindworth fired a shot off his left foot past the keeper.
With the match in had the Storm changed their tactic going to a 3-5-2 formation moving Landon from the back line to the midfield as he adds an attacking presence scoring the final goal of the night charging up volleying a rebound past the keeper to end the Storm’s scoring in the 63rd minute of the match.
This was the biggest margin of victory for Storm as they have only played a handful of times this there inaugural UPSL season. The UPSL has seen this type of disparity in the past when La Maquina previously beat Banning FC 10-1 and La Maquina winning 9-0 over OC Crew last season in League matches.
“We needed this boost to get everyone excited and ready to take on the rest of the season” said Croft. “ I’m thankful to be apart of a great club surrounded by quality players who’s focus is winning games for the club.”
Storm will hit the road to Thousand Oaks to see if they can garner another hot start to a match against FC Hasental next Sunday May 23. FC Hasental (0 points, 0-0-0) will be playing their first game of the UPSL season.
Source: Malik Basurto, Photo Credit: Paul Sunde
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