Ferchi

In the playoff match, the home field dominance Dallas had demonstrated all season was absent. Monterrey double-teamed Nestor Hernandez all night. The Sidekicks seemed to have no answer for the smothering defense that the Flash played the entire game. On the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel broadcast of the match, commentators Norm Hitzges and Gordon Jago both observed that no one Sidekick stepped up his game to rally the club when their tactics were not working. Head coach Tatu allowed the players to huddle by themselves on several timeouts during the game. Mental mistakes also lead to 4 Monterrey goals, including the game-winning goal off a free kick just outside the penalty arc that 6 Dallas players all watched fly into the net. In sports, they say “defense wins championships.” That was proven true when the PASL’s 2nd-best penalty killers (Flash, 73.9%) kept the PASL’s 3rd best powerplay team off the scoreboard the entire game. Dallas was a club-playoff worst 0 for 6 with the man advantage, and even allowed the first shorthanded goal Monterrey had scored all season.