Momentary letdown costs Moses Lake

Pasco 4 Moses Lake 2

MOSES LAKE — In a match of two of the top soccer teams in the Columbia Basin League, one minute of action proved to be the difference in the Moses Lake Chiefs' 4-2 loss to the Pasco Bulldogs Saturday.

The Chiefs went into the halftime break amid loud cheers, having built a 2-1 lead over a Pasco squad yet to taste defeat in CBL play. The Bulldogs quickly put an end to the excitement in the early moments of the second half, scoring the tying goal just 48 seconds after the resumption of play.

On the play, a Moses Lake throw-in was intercepted at midfield by the Bulldogs, and what should have been a Moses Lake possession was two short passes later a breakaway run at the goal by Pasco's Rocky Snyder that Moses Lake keeper Mitch Harder was unable to stop.

Fifty seconds later, Pasco took a 3-2 lead as Snyder dribbled through the Chiefs' defense and passed to Bulldog Alfredo Farias for the go-ahead score.

Moses Lake coach Bill Bertram said the little things, such as the mistake on the throw-in allowing Pasco to tie the game, were what cost the Chiefs a share of first place in the CBL.

"We can play with just about anybody if we keep our mistakes to a minimum," said Bertram.

Moses Lake's ability to play with Pasco was evident in the first half, as the Chiefs quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Devin Petersen goal assisted by Seth Bruneel in the seventh minute.

Pasco's Shayne Kelly quickly answered with a penalty-kick goal just one minute later, but Petersen put the Chiefs up 2-1 in the 33rd minute on a score assisted by Richie Ramirez.

In the 79th minute, with the Chiefs' pressing forward in search of a tying goal, Pasco scored to go up 4-2 on a header by Marco Acevedo.

While the Bulldogs were able to put up four goals on the Moses Lake defense, Bertram was generally pleased with how his players handled Pasco's biggest scoring threats.

"All in all, we marked their stars pretty well," said the Moses Lake coach. "I'm pleased with Alec Robillard and Devin Petersen. Devin neutralized Kelly."

"But, they've got a lot of weapons," Bertram added.

Thursday, the Chiefs took a break from the CBL schedule to travel to Medical Lake for a non-league match with the Cardnials. Moses Lake won the match 4-0, with Seth Bruneel scoring two goals for the Chiefs. Also finding the back of the net for Moses Lake were Isac Bergeson and Donald McGraw. Backup goalkeeper Jeff Erlenmeyer played the entire game for Moses Lake and earned the shutout victory.