Shadow stay in hunt for Open Cup; Spokane tops Cascade 3-1, now

The Spokane Shadow did their part to earn a berth in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Now they just need a little help.

Paul Johnson scored twice, including a sublime 30-yard blast in the 38th minute, and Rob Anderson got his first tally of the season as the Shadow knocked off the previously unbeaten Cascade Surge 3-1 in front of 672 rain-soaked fans at Joe Albi Stadium Saturday night.

The win moves the Shadow to 4-0 in the season and gives them sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division, three points ahead of Cascade, which is now 3-1.

It also moved Spokane to 4-0 in Open Cup qualifiers, putting the Shadow at the top of the list for a spot in U.S. Soccer's national championship.

The only thing that stands in their way is the Orange County Blue Star. The Blue Star are also 4-0, but only three of those games were in Open Cup qualifiers. They host the Fresno Fuego today.

If the Blue Star win, goal differential would earn them a spot in the Open Cup. A tie or a loss by Orange County and the spot would belong to Spokane.

But before any of this could take place, the Shadow had to take care of business Saturday against a talented Surge team which had scored nine goals in three games.

The result wasn't a thing of beauty.

"It wasn't the prettiest game for sure," head coach Stuart Saunders said. "But we were able to grind it out and that's a good thing. Guys looked a little tired from the night before, so it wasn't the best game probably for the fans."

But the Shadow, who were outplayed most of the match, were opportunistic and got off to the best of starts.

Brett Hite won a corner just 45 seconds into the match and Troy Ready sent a perfect ball into the box and found Paul Johnson right at the top of the 6-yard box. Johnson was unmarked and headed the ball past Cascade keeper Josh Miller just 1:15 into the game.

"I just closed my eyes and winged it and it all turned out OK," Johnson said. "That's a good start, 1-0 right off the bat."

But the Surge struck right back. Adrian Balc held off a defender on the right side of the 18-yard box, broke to the middle and fired it past a wrong-footed Kris Wright.

In the 15th minute, Tim Seely was fouled on the left wing and sent an inswinging free kick into the Surge box. Anderson rose between two defenders on the edge of the 6-yard box and headed it home between Miller's legs.

When the Shadow were able to string a few passes together, they did look dangerous and Johnson put the game in the 38th minute with an incredible goal.

Some nifty one-touch passing left the ball with Hite, who laid it off to Johnson roughly 30 yards from goal.

Johnson took one step and ripped a shot with the outside of his right foot that went first toward the middle of the goal and then curled away and into the upper-right corner of the net.

"Brett just laid it off perfectly and I just kinda kicked it," Johnson said. "It was probably a mishit, but it went in, so I'll take it."

The second half belonged almost exclusively to the Surge, who dominated possession but were unable to get a goal...at least one that counted.

Four minutes into the half, a Cascade corner was played to Surge defender Jeremy Tolleson, who headed it to substitute Pedro Figueiredo on the goal line for an easy tap in, but the linesman ruled Figueiredo to be offside and the goal was disallowed.

The Surge had a few more chances, Dana McGregor hit the crossbar in the 66th minute and Shadow right back Ben Sawyer cleared a ball off the line in the 76th minute, but Spokane held on.

Now it's up to Fresno for the help.

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