Under Attack

Written by Gerry Prince

Monday, 10 January 2000

The Edmonton Drillers spend a lot of time conducting soccer clinics throughout Northern Alberta.  But the boot was on the other foot yesterday as the visiting Kansas City Attack turned the tables on their hosts and cruised to a 14-6 win in front of 4,718 fans at Skyreach Centre.  It was the second straight loss by the Drill on Skyreach turf and dropped the squad's seasonal log to 10-5.  It's the first time the Drillers have lost back-to-back home games since their inaugural NPSL campaign in 1996-97. Those two losses came at the hands of K.C. and Buffalo in November of '96.  The two-game sweep, which included a 12-10 victory Thursday, was beyond K.C. coach Zoran Savic's dreams and a definite wake-up call for the Drillers, who were 9-0 on the Skyreach carpet before the Attack pulled into town.  "If you would have told me we'd win two games here I would have called you absolutely crazy," said Savic, whose side led 2-0 at halftime and 8-0 after three quarters.  "We just came out and tried to play the best we could and things were falling our way. They had a couple of chances early in the game and we lucked out when they missed them. We regrouped from there and were able to slow them down a little bit."  Granted, Drill defender Todd Rattee did fire the ball wide of an empty net early in the first. But the fact remains the Attack were in Edmonton's face and feet all day.  Ever the diplomat, Savic downplayed the ease with which his side manhandled the Drill.  "Let's not kid ourselves, it's not like this was a one-sided game," offered the K.C. bench boss. "We were fortunate in the things that we were doing and it turned out our way."  K.C. keeper Warren Westcoat, who stopped 20 of the 23 shots he faced, kept the Drillers off the scoreboard until early in the fourth.  That's when Alfredo Valente tucked Chris Handsor's feed behind the K.C. netminder at 2:47 of the fourth to make the score 8-2. Kevin Holness and Valente's second of the game rounded out the Drill's offensive attack.  Veteran Wes Wade led the way for Kansas City with three deuces. Lester Felician chipped in with a pair of two-pointers, while Eric Wilson and Carlos Olivas each tucked the ball behind Drill netminder Paul Shepherd for deuces.  According to Wade, before the two-game set the Attack were just looking to split the series.  "The priority was to split," Wade said. "Fortunately, we came in. I think the 17-day break for (the Drillers) really hurt them quite a bit. When you're not doing anything, your body tends to get more fatigued.  "We haven't had time to think about (the sweep). We're definitely happy about it; I think tomorrow it will sink in a little bit."  The loss was Shepherd's first of the season against three victories.  "We just weren't there today," said Shepherd, who made his first start since surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee Dec. 10.  "As a team, we just weren't there. Seeing as we lost last game, it was unexpected. Normally when a team like this loses, we come back on fire and just destroy teams. Today we just couldn't do it."  In the wake of the sweep, the Drillers dropped out of top spot and into a tie with Milwaukee for the lead in the NPSL's North Division. The Wave won 22-8 in St. Louis yesterday.  "They had their game going in and out and having us chase the ball," said forward Carmen D'Onofrio. "They've got a lot of skill and they play the game very smart.  "We've got to pick up our game and be much sharper and get back to the mentality and attitude we had before the break."  CORNER KICKS: Kurt Bosch (turf toe) was a scratch yesterday. Developmental squader Angelo Sestito drew in for Bosch ... K.C. forward Clovis Simas saw his consecutive game goal-scoring streak snapped at 13, but added two assists for 65 points on the year and a 14-game point-scoring streak ... The Drillers host Wichita Saturday.