As the Cincinnati Kings celebrated their winning goal Friday night in injury time against the Toronto Lynx, Nick Wiget (Kings Announcer) had the foresight to play Michael Jackson’s Thriller...and a thriller it was!
In front of an impressive crowd the Kings jumped to a 1-0 lead on a goal in the 30th minute by new addition Patrick Baxter who drilled his shot from 18 yards into the upper corner of the goal leaving the Lynx goalkeeper with no chance. The Kings padded their lead to 2-0 as center back Kyle Segebart headed in a Jon Sutton free kick. Midfielder Sutton had two assists on the evening. The lead should have been 3-0 when Midfielder Matt Bahner made a brilliant move to round the Toronto goalkeeper but could not get off a shot.
Toronto made four substitutions to begin the second half and the move paid dividends immediately as the Lynx scored two goals in the first 3:50 to tie the score at 2-2. Kings goalkeeper Aaron Arndt then made the save of the game as he parried a heavy shot headed into the upper corner to preserve the tie.
With 25 minutes remaining the Kings coaching staff made a tactical substation that paid off putting in defender Aaron Miller and moving stalwart Seth Eckerlin from the back line into the central midfield essentially playing with only three in the back. In the second minute of extra time (92:00) Miller threw a long ball into the Lynx penalty area where it was headed out to midfielder Aaron McKenna who knocked it back into the goal area. Judson McKinney deflected the ball into the goal and the celebrations began.
Coach Stahl’s comments:
We are now undefeated in our last five game at 3-0-2. In pre-game meetings we stressed the need to come out fast and get a lead. We also focused on getting organized chances on free kicks of which we scored two goals.
At halftime we talked about keeping the pressure on them and finishing the game off early. Obviously the players did not get the message and nearly paid the price for thinking we had the game in hand. While it is nice to get the win the players’ performance the first five minutes of the second half is not acceptable and is something we will have to address this week.
Next game:
The Kings travel Monday July 6 to play the Chicago Fire in Chicago. The Fire currently sits in third place in the division. With this unbeaten streak the Kings are in the race for the fourth playoff spot sitting 5 points behind fourth place Michigan. The Kings have four games remaining.
