STORM SHAKES OFF JET LAG, STEAMERS

By: Dan Parks

Maybe sleep is overrated after all. Despite having a great come back fall short in Northern California a mere 17 hours before game time on Sunday and only about an hour and a half of sleep to recuperate from the overtime loss to California and the 4-hour flight back home, the Storm was able to bounce back against a tough St. Louis squad with a 6-4 win at UIC Pavilion.

“Are these guys going to be up and ready for this game (Sunday)?” Klopas asked himself. “I felt (Saturday) we played a solid second half. I think it was our best performance. We didn’t give up a goal, we played good soccer, and we didn’t give up possession of the ball. We had good line changes and scored some crucial goals and took the game to overtime. Losing that game, I left with a good feeling not only for my team but the indoor game in general.

“Most of the guys got an hour and a half of sleep, you lose two hours, and four hours on the plane before you get here. To me the team showed unbelievable character.”

Newly acquired Semir Mesanovic netted a hat trick in just his third game in a Storm uniform. The former Milwaukee Wave player was accurate and opportunistic with his three-second quarter goals that put his team up 4-3 going into halftime. The Storm scored three consecutive goals twice in the game to account for all their scoring.

Set plays gave the Storm their first lead. Matthew Stewart scored directly on a shot that went through St. Louis’ defensive wall with 1:43 remaining in the opening quarter to tie the score.

Just 12 seconds into the next stanza, the Storm used some deception on another free kick. “Novi” Marojevic and Gus Kartes stood over the dead ball with Mesanovic lined up to their right. Kartes faked a shot and ran over the ball and toward Mesanovic. Novi then passed to the right where Kartes let the ball run past him allowing Mesanovic to hit a curling left footed shot that beat St. Louis netmnder Bayard Elfvin and parked in the upper left corner to put the Storm up 2-1.

Mesanovic’s next two goals were almost identical to each other. He made it 3-1 at 5:31 of the second quarter pouncing on a rebound of a Mark Ughy pass off the end boards.

After Randy Soderman and Genoni Martinez scored to tie the game for the Steamers, Mesanovic struck again. This time it was Anthony Maher coming down the left side of the field to smack a pass off the end boards. Mesanovic tapped in for a 4-3 Storm lead just 21 seconds before the halftime break.

Backup goalkeeper Jeff Richey got his first start of the season as Danny Waltman got some rest due to the Storm’s stressful weekend schedule. Richey had a tough time with some distributions giving the ball right to St. Louis forwards on a couple of occasions, but he also had some big saves in the game. He stopped 15 of the St. Louis 19 shots fired at his goal.

St. Louis made a goalie change at the half. Elfvin gave way to regular starter Brett Phillips at the beginning of the second half. Elfvin saved 7 of 11 shots while Phillips stopped two out of four.

“You have certain players on your team that can do certain things, and every night it’s going to be a different guy when you have quality players,” Klopas said. “One night it’s Gus; one night it’s Semir. Today Jeff stepped up and made some great saves in key situations. He was solid for a guy who hasn’t played for a very long time, and we threw him in there in a tough situation, and he stepped up.”

Jorge Valle and Novi scored the goals off of Phillips both with great shots. Valle scored his second of the season off a feed from Fabinho while Novi’s eighth marker of the year came unassisted. He saw Phillips cheating toward the near post and curled a shot inside the far post out of Phillips’ reach just under six minutes into the final quarter for a 6-3 Storm advantage.

Mesanovic and the Storm will try to avenge losses suffered in the first two games to his old mates when the Milwaukee Wave come to UIC Pavilion this Sunday for a 4 p.m. kickoff.

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