Team Tries to Survive Schedule, Its Toughest Opponent So Far
The Splash went on its recent six-game trip with the league’s best road record. It came back with league’s best road record, but not much to show for it.
The Splash lost four of six on the league’s longest trip and fell to 5-5 on the road--tied with three other teams for the Continental Indoor Soccer League’s best record--and returned in third place in the Western Division.
Though the team plays at the Pond Sunday against Monterrey (6:05 p.m.) and Monday against Seattle (7:35 p.m.), there’s not much rest for the defending division champion.
It plays five games in seven days--three on the road--seven games in 13 days, and 11 in 29.
“By far, this has been the toughest scheduling of my three years,” said defender Paul McDonnell, who also was part of the 1993 trip in which the Splash played seven games in 20 days--all on the road--before returning for three home games to close out the season.
McDonnell said last weekend’s back-to-back games in Houston and Monterrey was horrific: “Three days, two games, the longest trip of the season--by far.”
The Splash lost to Houston, 8-3, and Monterrey, 13-6.
Dale Ervine, playing his 11th season, said he has probably played as many as five games in seven days with Wichita in the final years of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
“You would play three games in three nights on East Coast trips,” Ervine said. “I’m sure I’ve come pretty close to it if I haven’t.”
It might be a daunting prospect, but there’s respite in that the first two games are at the Pond.
“If we do well in those two games,” McDonnell said, “that will set the tone for the [three-game] road trip.”
Ervine thinks the home crowd will invigorate his team. “These games couldn’t come at a better time,” he said. “We need to get back on track.”
Now is certainly the time because the Splash (9-8) has played fewer games than any team in the league has has seven of its final 11 at home.
Put another way, half the team’s home games will be played in the final month of the season.
“I feel there’s a lot of other teams in the league who would like to be a game over .500 [having] played three more games on the road than at home,” Ervine said. “We’re not pleased with 9-8, but we also feel when all is said and done, we expect to win the division.
“By no means is it time to panic, but it is time for concern. We realize we need to win these two games this weekend.”
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The defense gave up as many as six goals only four times in its first 11 games; it gave up that many goals five times on the recent six-game trip.
“When we give up so many goals, the whole team is not playing very well,” said goalkeeper Ruben Fernandez, whose goals-against average ballooned from 5.26 to 6.13 on the trip. “It’s not just a problem with the defense. We all lose it. As a team, we’re not playing to our potential. . . . We’re all responsible, from the goalie forward.
“We’ll see what we’re made of right now. We must win those two games and take it from there. The next five games will be a test to see what this team is all about. We’re not playing well at all, but we need to show our character and bounce back.”
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History indicates that at some point Sunday, Ervine will score the 400th goal of his career. He has 399, and is averaging nearly two goals a game.
“The individual type accomplishments are things that can be looked back upon several years down the road when I’m no longer playing anymore, but what it means more than anything is that I’ve been fortunate to stay somewhat healthy and tried to be consistent,” Ervine said. “If you play for a long period of time, these type of things add up.
“The only thing that would be important is if it allowed us to win the game.”
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The Splash’s bad home schedule continues with Sunday’s game against Monterrey and Monday’s game against Seattle.
The two games are on the backside of the Labor Day weekend, when many fans could be out of town. It’s in addition to two games sandwiched around a Thursday Fourth of July holiday, and the team’s Friday night season opener that went up against the Bulls-Supersonics in the NBA Finals.
On those nights, the Splash’s attendance was 6,294. Surprisingly, that total is higher than on the nights when the Splash didn’t compete against a holiday or basketball; the average for the other four dates (which includes a Tuesday and Thursday game) is 5,464.
The average attendance at a CISL game this year is 5,434. The Splash’s average is 5,819.
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The Splash power play unit has made nine of 25 opportunities (36%), a far cry from last year when it made 50.7% and scored a league-high 34 power-play goals (tied with Sacramento).
Only two teams have a worse power-play percentage than the Splash.
As it did last year, the Splash has the league’s top penalty-killing unit (70.6%), a little less than last year’s 71.9%.
