Victoria gives Pumas worst home league loss in four seasons

The Kitsap Pumas entered the weekend in good form and with high hopes of adding points to their first-place basket.

After a nil-nil match on Friday with Vancouver it got worse for the Pumas on Sunday as they were kicked 3:0 by the Victoria Highlanders at Memorial Stadium.

The Kitsap Pumas had never been shut out twice in a row at home, nor had they ever lost a PDL match by three goals. A sub-par weekend of results sees the club scratching their collective heads and needing a quick regroup to keep simply making the playoffs in focus. Sunday’s 3:0 home loss to the Victoria Highlanders happened on a first half free kick by Sasa Plavsic (see video) and first and second half goals by Highlanders veteran Jordie Hughes. Match Photos can be viewed at Facebook.com/goalWA.

Kitsap’s Taylor Hyde sees a scramble in front of the Victoria goal come to nothing for the Pumas. Ben Truax is hidden by the Highlanders defender. (David Falk)

“It’s frustrating,” coach James Ritchie told the Kitsap Sun in their match coverage. ”It’s annoying because I think we outplayed that team for the majority of the game. And we come away without a point. But credit to Victoria. They played well.”

The Pumas just didn’t have any answers this weekend, despite the juggling head coach James Ritchie tried to do with the line-up. Enrique Hidalgo started at forward alongside Ben Truax, but neither played well or had many scoring chances. Taylor Hyde returned on defense after a lengthy injury period. Drew Jensen played the entire second half on Sunday.

Kitsap stays in first place for time being, but loses ground on matches in-hand. The three sides directly behind the Pumas have all played one or two fewer.

The Pumas host second-place Washington Crossfire Friday night June 29th at Memorial Stadium as their five-match homestand continues.

The Pumas may have depth issues going forward. Midfielder Elliot Fauske got a second yellow card in stoppage time and will miss the Crossfire contest. Midfielder and leading scorer Matt Friesen left the match with an injury, as did defender Danny Medina.

#23 Enrique Hildalgo played minutes at forward for Kitsap over the weekend, but didn’t have much of an impact as his club went scoreless over two matches. (David Falk)

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5 Comments on “Victoria gives Pumas worst home league loss in four seasons”

Seathanaich
June 25, 2012

Thanks for the report, and the photos you posted. I know that people are usually a bit biased, but if the Kitsap coach thinks his team outplayed Victoria, then he’s either dishonest or incompetent. Victoria played Kitsap off the park in this game, and 3-0 is an accurate reflection of the play in the game. Kitsap did have a great chance in the second half, which Victoria keeper Mitrou did well to bat away, but otherwise Kitsap could not compete with the high tempo and passion that VHFC played with. It was great to be one of the six travelling Victoria fans, and out-sing the home crowd, while watching our team outplay the home team. Cheers.

Reply
- goalWA.net
  June 25, 2012
  
  Attendance was only 229, so thanks for giving a bit of cash to the home side. Only 228 on Friday in a 0-0 draw with Vancouver. Tough times, but still they look like they will make the playoffs. Pumas did not play well either day.
  
  Reply
Andy
June 26, 2012

It was a hard weekend for the Pumas. I thought they did well to get a tie with the Whitecaps. The Vancouver team was far stronger than in past years and played very good soccer. They did outplay the Pumas for long spells of the game and had a lot of possession. The sad thing was the loss to a much poorer Victoria than the team they had last year. The coaching staff and players will need to work out how this happened. The Pumas did have more possession (sadly it was mostly in there own half) and had far more shots on goal. Friesen going off was a big blow. Looked like the Pumas went more direct in the second half. Victoria did not have a tempo half as fast as the whitecaps. They sat back and countered. They did very well to take there chances. The Keeper was the best thing in a Victoria uniform. He made some great saves. Pumas will need to work out a few things with Fauske out. Fingers crossed Friesen, Medina and Sampson are back for the weekend. Puma fans need to get out and cheer on the team. Victoria’s fans were great and added color to the game. Loved the Kilts but am I the only one that wants to know if any of them were actually from Scotland?

Reply
- seathanaich
  July 10, 2012
  
  Hi Andy. The Victoria team were not “much poorer”, they outplayed the Pumas for the first half, building up a two-goal lead. As the announcers of your webcast pointed out, just because Victoria is low in the standings doesn’t mean they’re not a good PDL team. In the second half they continued to trade punches with the Pumas, who, down two goals at home, had more of the play from that point (this happens in pretty much every competitive adult soccer game).
  
  Keeper Elliot Mitrou is very good – he also plays for the University of Victoria Vikes, the 2012 national champions.
  
  I’m glad your fans enjoyed the six of us who travelled. Since when are Scots only found in Scotland? There are eight million Canadians with full or partial Scottish heritage (and surely as many in your country) – three million more people than live in Scotland. Just like people in Asia and Africa today wear pants, so too people from places outside of Scotland wear kilts. Surely this isn’t some sort of newsflash.
  
  Reply
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