Voltage Zap Back with Win

Take Sting Out of Rays with 5-4 Comeback

June 1, 2008

Some major halftime lineup changes and a change of formation fueled the Vermont Voltage to an improbable 5-4 comeback victory over the Rhode Island Stingrays Saturday night.

The Voltage, who trailed 4-0 at one point, were down 3-0 at the half before a lineup shuffle – and a few timely corner kicks – ignited the club.

Trailing by four a little before the 80th minute mark, midfielder Daniel Stevens sent a ball to forward Santigui-Ibrahim Tounkara who quickly found the back of the net for the Voltage. Not very long after that, Tounkara scored his second goal of the night, improving the score to 4-2.

As the game was nearing its close, two corner kicks, awarded within five minutes of each other, were both driven to the back of the net by veteran defender Justin VanMatre to end regulation time ended in a 4-4 tie.

In the very last minutes of stoppage time, veteran forward Matt Stedman cut by two Stingray defenders to slide the ball across to the feet of Stevens, who slotted the final goal home to complete the comeback and give Vermont a 5-4 win.

The surge was enough to overcome a hat trick from Jeffery Gonsalves, who scored the second through fourth goals for the Stingrays. Ryan Kelley netted the first strike for Rhode Island.

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb