Hurricane looms in path of Flash

By Brad Falduto
SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE

September 20, 1998

Flash 2

Storm 1

CHULA VISTA -- The Flash weathered the Storm last night. Now if it can handle a possible hurricane tomorrow night, the Flash will be in the A-League Western Conference finals.

The Flash defeated visiting New Orleans 2-1 in the first of a two-game conference semifinal series before 4,043 at Southwestern College's Devore Stadium. The victory means that all the Flash needs is to be at least tied at the end of regulation when the series concludes tomorrow night in New Orleans to advance to the conference finals.

But the Flash may be facing more than just the Storm tomorrow night. It may also have to deal with Mother Nature. Weather forecasts call for possible hurricanelike conditions in New Orleans, meaning some weird things could happen in the game.

"Everybody is concerned about the weather," said Flash forward Antonio Robles, who scored the game-winning goal. "If it is raining, if it is sunny, we still have to play hard."

Flash coach Costa Skouras said the weather won't be a factor tomorrow. He was just relieved that the Flash didn't put itself in a situation where it had to win on the road. In a two-game series, if one team wins in regulation and the other wins in overtime, the team winning in regulation advances.

"We won the game, which is what we wanted to do," said Skouras. "We know what we have to do in New Orleans."

Joe Cannon, the Flash's goalkeeper who returned to action last night after missing the team's first playoff game due to a suspension, guaranteed a victory tomorrow night.

"The field conditions won't matter," said Cannon. "We've just got to keep putting pressure on. I know we're going to win."

Both teams came out rather tentatively and there weren't many offensive threats in the first 15 minutes. Robles put an end to that in the 17th minute. He made a nifty move to deke New Orleans goalkeeper Tom Dutra and shoot into a wide open net for a goal.

New Orleans tied the game in the 60th minute when Glenn Benjamin booted in a rebound after Cannon had made a save.

The Flash regained the lead in the 73rd minute when Farias scored on a free kick. Then the Flash got defensive again to make sure it came away with a victory.

Notes

Should the Flash advance to the Western Conference finals, it would open that best-of-three series on the road Saturday at either Minnesota or Seattle. The second game would be played Wednesday, Sept. 30, at Devore Stadium. The third game, if necessary, would be played Sunday, Oct. 4.

After turning down the Flash's request to play host to both games of the New Orleans series earlier in the week, yesterday league officials asked the Flash if it wanted to play host to tomorrow night's game due to the inclement weather in New Orleans. The Flash declined after learning it couldn't get refunds on airplane tickets to New Orleans.

Flash director of communications Jon Greene has been named the team's new director of soccer operations.