Kitsap Pumas Fall To A Strong South Sound Shock

The Kitsap Pumas put in all on the line in the closing quarter of their match up against the South Sound Shock but were unfortunately defeated 7-4 after nearly managing to level the scoreline. 

At kickoff only goal difference separated the two sides with the Pumas in the lead but now Kitsap are going to have to play hard for good results and hope that South Sound encounter a defeat in the last remaining fixtures of the 2012/2013 PASL season. The Shock are now at the top of the table with a three point lead.

The game got off to a bad start for the Pumas when they conceded just three minutes in. They were well on their way to equalizing as they pressed the Shock's goal when Yuma Inagawa was brutally fouled, his face smashed against the glass directly in front of the Kitsap Pumas most dedicated fan section. Inagawa was down and eventually taken off the field after recovering from the hard knock to his head and collecting the teeth that had been misplaced and were scattered across the turf. The player responsible for the injury was given a blue card and the Pumas equalized just fifteen seconds into the power play with a smashing goal from Cisco Cisneros.

South Sound Shock players before the match

With five minutes gone in the first quarter the Pumas nearly got a second in a scramble at the edge of the area but the Shock's goalkeeper managed to collect the ball and paid the price. He played out the remainder of the quarter with a bloody nose. Kyle Johnson wasn't going to alleviate any of the pressure on the South Sound goal and he got on the end of a fantastic ball from the Pumas' half, chipping it neatly over the head of the goalkeeper and in the back of the net to give the home side the lead. The Pumas continued to batter the goalkeeper and the walls surrounding the visitor's goal for the remainder of the quarter even during the South Sound power play with ten minutes gone. With only four minutes left on the clock, South Sound equalized as the ball took an unfortunate bounce off of one of the bodies flying around the Kitsap box and rolled past the hands of the goalkeeper.

The Pumas were joined ahead of the match
by one of their academy teams

Without a doubt the first quarter was dominated by the home side. They were quick on the counter attacks and on an individual level players were making smart passes, turning and shooting. In the second quarter, the game got progressively chippy and players were starting to slam each other off of the boards. Brian Meherg saw a questionable yellow card for his challenge halfway through the second quarter while the Shock seemingly got away with a few tackles far worse than the ones the Pumas' number six dished out. The visitors found the net three times and Cameron Stone scored the Pumas' third in spite of the aggressive nature of the match. At half time the South Sound Shock had the 5-3 lead over the Pumas and were in first place.
For the remainder of the match it was a frustrating situation for the home side. They dominated in terms of possession and got tons of shots off but the more balls that bounced off of the boards rather than hitting the back of the net, the more the frustration set in. The Shock were quick on the counter attack but the home side managed not to concede in the third quarter. They put themselves within one goal of South Sound with an excellently placed finish from Graham Davidson just before the buzzer sounded for the time out before the final period of the match. By the fourth quarter, the Pumas looked tired and mildly irritated as they watched their shots bounce off of fortunate Shock defenders, the walls surrounding the goal, or stop dead at the strong hands of the visitor's goalkeeper. Two consecutive blue cards for the Pumas were just too much to handle. Despite being one goal away from the draw and a point, they conceded in the second power play and then one more goal followed by a cocky celebration from South Sound's number nine sealed the victory for the visitors.
The Pumas will look to get their form back next week away to the Oregon Blacktails.