Doxa 4 – 1 Santa Ana Winds
Doxa got back to winning ways after several weeks without a game, down in Santa Ana. With plenty of rain hitting the southern California region in the past few weeks the field was extremely muddy in spots, which ended up causing some problems for both teams.
Doxa were the first to score. A corner from the right found Ilia Nazarov on the back post, who knocked the ball across the box to Pete Hazdovac. Hazdovac took two swings, eventually connecting with the ball and putting it in the back of the net. Doxa’s back line endured a tricky first half, with Marcus Watson’s attempts to make the Olympic handball team getting a boost. Half time saw the score at 1-0.
Shortly into the second half, Doxa took a 2-0 lead off a spectacular goal. Mat Davis lofted a free kick that fell on the right hand side of the box, where Bryan Byrne volleyed the ball with pure accuracy against the inside of the post and back across goal, right into his path. Technically it was a goal and an assist. Santa Ana got back into the game less than five minutes after that, when Watson won the yellow jersey by giving away a penalty. Brian Burdue down gracefully to the right, only for the Santa Ana player to knock it to the right (it was a good dive!)
Doxa rallied in the final 20 minutes, and Nas Koubouras got his first assist of the season when he put Pete Hazdovac through on goal. The big Croat took a touch and finished neatly past the keeper. In the last 10 minutes of the game, Kyle Holland came off the bench to settle the game with a deft goal. From around 30 yards up, Holland lofted a ball over the keeper and into the back of the net.
Next up for Doxa is a home league game on Saturday versus PSA at Manhattan Village.
1. Brian Burdue
2. Mat Davis
3. Andrew Villalobos
4. Marcus Watson
5. Nate Reeves
6. Nas Kourouras
7. Bryan Byrne
8. Ilia Nazarov
9. Pete Hazdovac
10. Steve Chirgwin
11. Ryan Taylor
12. Richie Million
13. Zach Roberts
14. Yuki
15. Masa
16. Kyle Holland
17. Arron Craggs
