Worth the wait! Cleveland Crunch explode for 17 goals in official M2 debut

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- For professional indoor soccer fans in northeast Ohio, getting the Cleveland Crunch back was worth the wait.

The Crunch -- who won three National Professional Soccer League championships in the 1990s -- exploded for 17 goals in a 17-6 triumph over the visiting Colorado Inferno Saturday night. It was Cleveland's first "official" game in returning to the sport in Major Arena Soccer League 2 this year; the Crunch won a "friendly" from the Brew City Legends of Milwaukee 12-4 in late February.

The Crunch broke a 2-2 tie by scoring 10 of the game's next 11 goals, paced by a four goal, five-point night from Ryan Minnick and a five-night performance (three goals and two assists) from the MetroHealth "Man of the Match" Mike Derezic. He also had a hattrick in the win over Brew City Legends.

Mc"Cain Spragling added three goals and an assist of his own. Admir Suljevic and Dave Jordan had two goals each while Sami Nutewma, Tom Beck and  Chris Cvecko also all found the back of the net.   Spragling got a big workout as he did backflips off the plexiglass sidewalls much to the delight of the sellout crowd. 

Marijo  Musa got the win in goal, credited w2ith 12 saves. Cleveland, now 1-0 on the M@ season, outshot the Inferno (3-3) by a margin of 55-40.

“The game is for the fans. We come out here for the love of it but when they start cheering us on, we have to let them know we appreciate it," Jordan said. Cleveland has something to be proud of, the Crunch are back.”

The game was a sell-out with the team playing currently at the Soccer Sportsplex because of covid restrictions. A few more tickets have been made available for today's 2 p.m. showdown with Colorado. Visit www.theclevelandcrunch.com for more information. The team is planning a move for the 2021-22 season to a larger downtown venue.