Jan. 5: SOCCER STUDIO 26, LUBBOCK LONESTAR 6
CARROLLTON, Texas—It wasn’t their sharpest performance of the season after a long holiday layoff, but Dallas-based Soccer Studio had little trouble Saturday night maintaining the only 100-percent record in the Premier Arena Soccer League’s South Central division.
With three goals from Franck Mbemba and four of the midfield maestro’s teammates scoring twice, Studio strolled to a 26-6 rout of Lubbock Lonestar at American Indoor in Carrollton for their most lopsided victory of the young season.
Studio were guilty of wasteful finishing and a generally casual approach, but they overcame a slow start to score the first seven goals without reply and pump in five in the final period when fatigue clearly accelerated Lubbock’s fade.
So that’s four wins in four games for the reigning champions of the PASL, which is the official developmental league for the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).
Team captain Patrick Shamu opened the scoring as usual by dancing around Lubbock goalkeeper Michael Chandler and finishing into an empty net. Two goals from Brazilian playmaker Renato Pereira followed, both angled drives from the right wing.
Goals by Jamie Harrigan (set up by Alan Smith’s steal and far-post pass), Mbemba (fed by Turk Akturk from the left boards) and Ezequiel “ Willow ” Alvarez (on assists from Shamu and Jon Waters) pushed Studio’s lead to 12-0 at halftime, with Studio goalkeeper Adam Wozniki a virtual spectator to that point.
Wozniki handed the gloves to Joe Wagner for the second half and the home team’s offensive continued, with goals from Thomas Knight and Mbemba stretching the lead to 16-2 entering the final period. Only a full-field run and an unstoppable low drive from Lubbock ’s Joe-Mike Gomez finally breached the Studio goal.
Lubbock unexpectedly scored twice in the fourth – including another good individual effort from Gomez – but Studio pulled away with two goals from Smith and further strikes from Mbemba, Harrigan and Stephen Ambrose.
“I would say that we played like a team that had been off for 10 days,” said Studio manager Roderick Scott. “We lacked cohesion and focus, but I wasn’t too surprised with our performance because we looked that way in practice.
“This week we’ll be back to business, we’ll get two solid practices in and we’ll get ourselves up to game speed. Again I stress that our biggest opponent in the regular season will be ourselves. We can’t get complacent because we haven’t won anything yet.”
Studio hits the road for its next two games, away to the Arlington Magic on Jan. 12 and to nearby Euless on Jan. 19 to face the DFW Tornados. The next home game at American Indoor is Feb. 2 against the second-place Austin Amp’d.
This is the 10th season for the PASL, which has 53 teams spread among 10 divisions in the United States , Canada and Mexico . It’s the largest indoor soccer league in the world and uses MISL multi-point scoring rules, with goals scored inside the red line counting as two-point goals and goals scored from beyond the red line counting as three-point goals.
Studio won the PASL’s International Championships last March in Mexico .
JAN. 5, 2007
THE SOCCER STUDIO 26, LUBBOCK LONESTAR 6
STUDIO GOALS: Mbemba 3, Pereira 2, Harrigan 2, Smith 2, Shamu, Alvarez, Knight, Ambrose
STUDIO LINEUP
3 Stephen Ambrose
5 Franck Mbemba
6 Jonathan Knowles
8 Thomas Knight
9 Ezequiel “Willow” Alvarez
10 Renato Pereira
13 Jon Waters
15 Justin Clark
17 Alan Smith
18 Patrick Shamu
19 Derlys Aguilera
20 Daniel Dobson
22 Diego Garcia
23 Turk Akturk
GK Adam Wozniki
GK Joe Wagner
For more information, visit www.thesoccerstudio.com or www.arenaleague.com
