Wings win OT thriller; Crunch remain as one of two unbeaten so far in M2 play

TAMPA, Fla. – The Cleveland Crunch continue their roll through the Major Arena Soccer League 2 regular season, and the Wichita Wings and Omaha Kings played one of the games-of-the-year so far to highlight action in Week Nine.

Omaha scored six straight goals after the Wings had raced to a 4-1 first-half lead, but Wichita stormed back with a rally of their own and got the game winner from  Juan Zamora in overtime in a scintillating 8-7 triumph. It was a battle for first-place in the Midwest Division as both teams came into Saturday night’s showdown at 5-1. 

Zamora and Taylor Henry each had two goals for the Wings, while. Alfonso Lopez and Kevin Ten Eyck chipped in with a goal and an assist each. Murilo Ceruli continued to pile up the points for Omaha, with a goal and three assists. He leads all of M2 with 23 points and 15 assists so far this year. Manuel Lira and Pedro Agoston had two goals each.

The Crunch, as they did in round one, took round two in the battle of Ohio with a 11-3 against the Cincinnati-based BC Swerve. The Crunch improved to 5-0 –only one of two undefeated teams in the league along with the RGV Barracudas – behind a big four-goal, one assist effort from David Jordan. Gabriel Pewu had a pair of goals and Bobi Concar added a goal and an assist as well. 

San Diego improved to 4-1 on the season in sweeping a doubleheader in Turlock this weekend, although the Express pushed the Sockers to overtime on Saturday in falling 5-4. San Diego had little trouble in winning Friday night, 10-3. 

Edgar Alvarez got the game winner in the extra frame, after Turlock’s Jose Barriga tied the game midway through the fourth. He had three of Turlock’s goals as the Express couldn’t hold an early 3-0 advantage. 

Muskegon had its biggest win of the season, putting down the Chicago Mustangs 13-2 at Mercy Health Arena. The Risers hit the back of the net five times in the opening quarter, and built that to a 9-2 lead at intermission in improving to 4-4, good for second in the East Division. Chicago fell to 2-4.

Miguel Flores led the offensive outburst with four goals while Adetunji "TJ" Ifaturoti added a hat trick for the Risers who will be in Cleveland for a key matchup against the Crunch next Saturday. Michael Marchionna had both Chicago scores. 

The New Mexico Runners (2-6) rallied from a one-goal halftime deficit to delight the home folks with a 12-9 triumph over the Colorado Inferno (0-7).

Jacob Gandarilla and Frolian Ramirez each had the hat trick for New Mexico. Gandarilla also added a couple of assists for a five-point game. Miguel Garcia also chipped in with a pair of markers. Francisco Rivas had a big game for the Inferno, scoring four times. Captain Marcus Jordan also added a pair. Colorado led at one point 6-3 before New Mexico scored nine of the game’s next 10 goals. 

Colorado scored 10 goals in the second half, but were shutout in the first two quarters in falling to Amarillo, 14-0. The Bombers (3-4) scored nine times in the first-half to put the game out of reach. Vitor Patriani had another big game as he banged in five goals.