Heat Stung by Late Salt Lake City Goal, 2-1
Goalkeeper Mike Littman pounded a hairbrush in anger against the wall of the steamy locker room at West Torrance High Friday night. Perspiration flowed from his forehead and frustration poured from his heart.
“We work hard for 90 minutes and then we give up a stupid goal like that.” he said after the Heat dropped a 2-1 decision to the Salt Lake Sting on a last-second goal. “I don’t know what it is with this team. It’s some kind of lapse. It’s so frustrating.”
In a scenario that is becoming painfully familiar, the Heat (7-7) dominated another American Professional Soccer League West opponent and lost. L.A. outshot Salt Lake City, 21-9.
“The bottom line is, to win games you have to put the ball in the back of the net,” Littman said. “We didn’t do that and I feel like I lost the game for us because I gave up two goals. But I can’t do it all.”
Littman was not to blame. The Sting grabbed a 1-0 lead 31:25 into the game when a George Pastor shot glanced off the leg of Heat defender Thor Lee and deflected away from a well-positioned Littman. The Heat tied the game on a header by Pena at the left post 23:02 into the second half after a nice cross by J.B. Frost.
Then with no time left on the scoreboard clock (in the APSL, the official time is kept on the field and the scoreboard clock is purely informational), the Heat defense went to sleep. Former Palos Verdes High football and soccer standout Dominic Militello, working against Lee, who had been hobbled earlier with a sprained ankle, made a nifty pass into the flat about 40 yards out. Dzung Tran took the ball down the right sideline and passed ahead to Derek Sanderson, who was clear as he turned to the goal. Sanderson drove toward Littman, then dumped a pass in front of the net to Pastor, who beat his defender and then the Heat goalie for the winning score.
“I didn’t realize that Lee was hurt that bad,” Militello said. “We were just trying to get the ball wide to Tran and work the wings, maybe get a one-on-one situation and, fortunately, it worked.”
Lee injured his left ankle late in the game taking a ball away from an opponent. But because the Heat had used its two substitutes, he had to remain on the field or the Heat would have had to play one down. An adept defender, Lee could barely walk off the field when the game ended.
