Shadow begin playoff run aiming for final season goal

Two down, one to go.

Before the season began, the Spokane Shadow identified three distinct goals.

The first was to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, which they did by winning their first four games, all Open Cup qualifiers.

The second was to take first place in the Premier Development League's Northwest Division, which they did based on points (11-4-1, 34 points) but lost via a tiebreaker with the Cascade Surge.

The third was to advance past the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, which they can take care of tonight when they take on the Orange County Blue Star at Fresno Pacific University in the Western Conference semifinals. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

And after losing in the first round of the playoffs three of the past four seasons, Spokane is looking to reverse the trend.

"We just have to step up," head coach Stuart Saunders said. "It's a different team and a different year and we have to take care of what we're capable of doing and see what happens."

The Shadow, who left for Fresno Thursday afternoon, will do something on a road trip they haven't done in more than a month: take a full complement of players.

Their last two road trips, the last weekend of June and first weekend of July, they traveled with some empty seats and it showed in their results. On the trip to Cascade (a 5-1 loss) and Abbotsford July 2-4, the Shadow had no field subs, having to play the whole weekend with 11 players.

But Spokane will have 16 players to call on this time, something for which Saunders is thankful.

"Obviously having guys available makes a big difference," he said. "Our losses [this season] were games where we were short players and had some injuries. Now having numbers available allows us to use all the guys and allows the players to put in a better effort when they step onto the field."

Having a full roster will also be important in terms of playing conditions. The forecast in Fresno for Friday and Saturday calls for daytime highs of 101 degrees, and with their first game scheduled for 5 p.m., they'll be playing in the hottest part of the day.

But even there, Spokane has an advantage. The temperature at kickoff for last Saturday's win over the Yakima Reds was 99 degrees and that was amplified by Joe Albi's turf, giving the Shadow a taste of what will come in central California tonight.

"No matter who's there, everyone has to adjust to the conditions," Saunders said. "It's going to be hot, but playing at Albi prepares us because it ends up being hotter on that turf. It was probably 120 degrees [against Yakima] and in a sense that was conditioning for this weekend."

The heat isn't the only thing the Shadow have to worry about. The Blue Star (12-3-3, 39 points) won the PDL's Southwest Division and have allowed just 21 goals in 18 games.

"It's just a matter of creating chances and once we create them taking what we get," Saunders said. "There's no secret to what we are going to do. We're going to do what we've been doing all year. We can't change for them because we really don't know much about them."

And with a full roster and a little experience playing in scorching heat, the Shadow just might be able to cross off the final item on their preseason checklist.

"It would be huge to get past the first round," Saunders said. "It's so far so good (on the team's goals). The Open Cup run was good.

"Technically we didn't take first, but coming off the win over Cascade we walked out thinking we were the No. 1 team (in the division). This weekend we just have to get out there and get it done tonight and go from there."

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