Darmen 1-2 Baker Park: Smash & Grab Raid
by Alec Henderson
Soccer Correspondent for The Sunday Observer
Brham, Darmen--The National Team's Gold Squad came away with a shock victory here over the top seeds in Group 17, with Brianne Whitestone's 82nd minute goal providing the winning margin.
The Darmenis came out of the the tunnel looking eager to put their stamp on the match from the opening whistle. Marcellus Winton and Zachariah Butler controlled the central midfield for long stretches of the opening 20 minutes, frustrating their BP counterparts and forcing much of the play between the channels, the outside wingers left to pick up odd scraps and track back into defensive positions.
Manager Pamela Scott made a calculated change of tactics on 33 minutes, as Steven DiPietro was sacrificed for Annabeth Westmoreland, who took up a position higher than that of a normal central midfielder; the shape eventually morphed into something close to a 3-3-2-2, that seemingly worked against the advantage on the wings that Baker Park usually enjoy.
But appearances are often deceiving, as the narrowing of the formation that was apparently the hosts preferred plan began to work against them; Westmoreland & Jamari Bozeman exploited space between the Darmen defense & midfield and Nathan Ohler's strong defensive performance in the center of midfield saw the Commonwealth get the break they were looking for just 2 minutes from half time.
Tony Santos won a challenge on the left and moved the ball to Ohler, who spotted Westmoreland on a diagonal run towards the 18; she immediately stopped on a dime and gave an overlapping Ohler a return that he was able to one-time on goal forcing Hyman Campo into a reflex save. On the ensuing corner, Santos placed a seeing-eye laser pass towards Seth Schmidt who headed home from 8 yards, and Baker Park led 1-0.
Straight from the second half kickoff, Darmen pressed forward and made gains in forcing turnovers in the center third of the pitch. But they continued to struggle against the offside trap of the BP defense and their frustration became more evident as the minutes ticked away.
The home side were finally able to level the match on 63 minutes when their star forward Felix Lucanus drew a foul just on the edge of the Baker Park 18, Winton smashing a free kick off the wall which was pounced on by Craig Blackwood, who beat Mollie Pellitier with an excellent finish to the short side. Suddenly, the home support felt more confident that their side would be able to extend their long World Cup Qualifying unbeaten streak into the second half of the current campaign.
With 20 minutes remaining, Scott made another tactical substitution that took a bit of time to become evident in its intent. Ali Salih came on for Bozeman, and in the succeeding 6-8 minutes the shape of the Commonwealth formation changed once again; Westmoreland dropped into a more natural slot alongside Ohler in the center of midfield and Valerie Agahambri gave way to Salih and took up a role behind him and Schmidt, making it closer to a 3-4-3. Salih and Schmidt increased the forward pressure against the Darmen back line--at a stage where you would've expected a slacking off to preserve a point on the road--and when Trent Yeomans replaced Santos on 80 minutes, the final act was almost written.
Yeomans brought fresh legs down the left that forced the defense to compensate and Ohler won a header on a clearing pass from Ritchie Porsche which fell at the feet of Agahambri, who immediately found Whitestone in space and the Ravens Ladies star made no mistake with her shot, beating Campo clean. The 3,500 supporters from BP were the only noise that could be discerned among the 53,000 at the Brham Stadium until after the kickoff. Darmen made one final push for an equalizer, Lucanus just missing the target from 21 yards, and at the final whistle, the sides didn't betray emotion one way or another, just congratulations and commiserations.
Borko Ferro 
