THE MARK OF UGHY

By: Dan Parks

Much like last year, it didn’t take very long for Mark Ughy to have an impact on the Chicago Storm (2-2). He seemed to score in every game when he came over from San Diego in the dispersal draft last December, and after missing the first three games of this season due to visa problems, Ughy picked up where he left off notching two goals in a 4-3 Storm victory over the Baltimore Blast (2-1) at UIC Pavilion.

The Hungarian-born forward came from his homeland late in the week once his visa situation was resolved. By the looks of it, his return to the team was about three weeks late, but in reality he arrived just in time. The struggling Storm offense would be without Awadalla Morad for the game due to a concussion, and Ughy stepped in as if he hadn’t missed a beat.

Ughy scored the two goals that turned the tide for the Storm. His first came with the game tied at 1 apiece in the second quarter. John Ball made a pass in front of the goal, and Ughy fought hard through three defenders with his back to the net before finally breaking free and pounding the ball home to give the Storm a 2-1 lead less than five minutes into the second stanza.

“That’s why he’s a special player,” said Storm head coach Frank Klopas. “There’s not that many of them in the league. He is one of them that can get the ball with his back and turn and when you think there is nothing there he’s able to score. You need those special players because he did score some important goals. From a fitness standpoint (he) is not even there (yet). For him to be part of the team for 4-5 days and work hard off the ball, that’s the thing that you have to look at. Everyone else feeds off of that.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Ughy struck again early in the fourth. At 2:01 it was Ball and Ughy combining on the goal in a different sort of way. Ball was seemingly fouled in the penalty area. Baltimore recovered the loose ball, but Ughy swooped in and struck the ball right off the defender’s foot and into the net to double the Storm lead.

Storm captain “Novi” Marojevic scored what would turn out to be the game-winner. Baltimore surrendered a free kick at the top of the penalty arc, which set the scene for “Novi.” He took his customary spot over the dead ball and sent a laser of a shot through the defenders in the wall and Blast goalie Sagu giving the Storm a three-goal advantage.

That lead would prove necessary as Baltimore pulled its goalie setting up goals that Adauto Neto and Giuliano Celenza scored just 44 seconds apart. Celenza’s second goal of the game was a perfect volley into the upper right corner of a lofted pass from Robbie Aristodemo’s corner kick.

Lee Tschantret almost tied the contest with about one minute left when the veteran tried to head a bounding ball into the net. He just couldn’t reach it at the proper angle as the ball skimmed off the top of his head and rebounded off the glass above the Storm goal.

“We created chances and we could have put them away but we didn’t,” Klopas said,” but I’m more pleased that in a tight game we had guys that were in tune with the game; they were focused and they knew that it would take the commitment to compete to the last whistle. You get better from that. 10-0 games, you’re not going to get better. Games like this you get better.”

Baltimore held it’s only lead in the first quarter. Celenza scored his first goal just 1:23 into the contest after pouncing on a loose ball in the penalty area, the result of a non-call when the Storm’s Matthew Stewart was bowled over. Stewart got revenge just 1:47 into the second quarter as Gaston Pernia perfectly played a free kick around the boards and in front of the net for Stewart to guide the ball into the goal to even the score and set the stage for Ughy’s big day.

The two teams will get right back at each other in Baltimore next Saturday night at 1st Mariner Arena. The Storm will be out East for their next contest on Dec.10, at Philadelphia before returning home to UIC Pavilion on Dec. 18, to host the team that knocked them out of playoff contention last year, the St. Louis Steamers. Kick-off will be at 4 p.m.

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