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August 14, 2010
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Ilija Stolica's first career goal was the game winner on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
�In that moment you don�t have enough time to think: you just react,� said Stolica. �I saw the ball coming to my left foot and struck with my right foot.�
�I�m very happy to score the winning goal,� he added. �It�s really a great feeling, a great satisfaction for me. I was very happy to hear an ovation from the crowd when I was coming out.�
�It was a good goal,� said head coach Steve Nicol. �[He] took it well. You can see the experience he has; the way he holds people off and just a lot of small stuff that probably goes unnoticed, but makes a huge difference.�
Though the Revs were riding a seven game unbeaten run in all competitions heading into the match, they had not scored a goal in over a month. With the offense struggling, Nicol opted to switch things up and handed the start to Stolica.
�[Stolica�s] performance was good,� said goalkeeper Matt Reis. �It was great for his confidence to get a goal. He and Marko [Perovic] obviously play well. It�s like they are speaking another language up there, so it�s great for him to open up in the first game and get a goal.�
Additionally, Nicol shifted around the defense again, moving Chris Tierney to right back in Kevin Alston�s absence and putting Cory Gibbs on the left with Emmanuel Osei and Darrius Barnes playing in the center.
Houston had the first decent chance of the match in 24th minute when a free kick from Corey Ashe about 30 yards from goal found Brian Ching. Ching�s header from about 10 yards out went just wide of the near post.
Stolica combined well with Marko Perovic and Shalrie Joseph in the 34th minute to set up Perovic for a chance at the top of the box. Just before the Serbian forward could get off a shot Bobby Boswell came in with an impressive sliding tackle to clear the ball out for a corner kick.
�There were some passes that got intercepted that were an inch off that we need to just get better,� said Joseph. �It�s one of those games that everything didn�t go the way we wanted it to, but Stolica did a great finish� and the team worked hard. Matt [Reis] was great in the back and the back four held us up again as they always did the past couple of games.
Some poor play by the Revs in the 67th minute gifted the Dynamo a great chance. The Revs gave the ball right to Houston off a free kick and an eventual cross fell to Brian Mullan. Mullan settled the ball for Lovel Palmer, but the Revolution defense managed to get back to block his shot.
Some great moves by Perovic led to a chance for the Revs in the 75th minute. Perovic managed to dribble all the way to the Dynamo box before attempting to pass the ball to Stolica on his right. The pass was long, but Stolica got to it and sent it back across to Shalrie Joseph. Joseph found Khano Smith wide open in the left side of the box, but the Bermudian managed to launch his shot over the net.
�Marko is an exceptional player,� said Joseph. �When you are going against people, it�s hard to defend against him when he starts running with the ball and Stolica brings the holdup play that we need so bad at the top to combine with me, to allow me to push forward and combine with him.�
The Revs next head on the road for two games, starting with a match in Chicago on Wednesday against the Fire, who the Revs are now tied with for fourth in the East.
�It�s huge,� said Reis. �These next three games can make or break our season. If we can get points out of these next two games we can put ourselves in a really great spot to get that fourth and final spot in the play-offs. We are doing things right, team defense is great, guys are blocking balls in front of me and the stuff that�s getting through is very manageable.�
�Right now we can�t afford to slip up,� said Joseph.
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