Capitals fall to Mississippi for 5th consecutive loss

• By FRED ALDRICH
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Jun 29, 2009 - Page: 8B

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The Mississippi Brilla scored a late goal in added time to hand the Baton Rouge Premier Development League team a 3-2 loss, its seventh of the season and sixth one-goal defeat.

The winning goal started on the foot of Brilla forward Debola Ogunseye, who dribbled toward the right post and laid the ball off to Anteneh Lemmah. Lemmah left the ball in front of the goal for Jacob Lawrence, who got a shot off in a crowd and past goalkeeper Zach Wallace.

“I’m happy with our effort,” said Capitals coach Paulo Neto, whose team lost its fifth straight. “We came from behind twice. But effort can only do so much. At the end of the day you want to win.

“It seems like (our players) are carrying our record on their shoulders. We get such wonderful support from the community, and it embarrasses them that we are not getting more wins.”

The Capitals (1-7-3) were playing without starting midfielder Tony Judice, who is out with an ankle injury, but had a stellar offensive performance from forward Jared Wooley. Wooley, a former prep star at Vandebilt Catholic, scored both goals for the Capitals.

Wooley’s first goal came in the 24th minute with the Brilla up 1-0. He collected a deflection off a Brilla defender, dribbled right and shot on the full run past goalkeeper Josh Pantazelos. The ball glanced off the far post and into the net to tie the game.

The Brilla went up 2-1 in the 44th minute on Ogunseye’s second goal. He dribbled through three defenders for a chip shot from 18 yards just inside the right post.

Ogunseye had started the scoring in the fourth minute when he outraced goalkeeper Pedro Caetano for a loose ball in front of the goal. He nudged the ball ahead to himself and shot from 12 yards outside the right post.

The ball went into the net despite a hustling effort by Capitals defender Sean Reynolds to deflect the shot.

It was the Ogunseye’s third goal in two games against the Capitals. In a game in Jackson on May 30, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 Brilla win.

Assistant coach Rusty Bryant was the Brilla’s postgame spokesman after head coach Dave Dixon and assistant coach Todd Eason were ejected by head referee Mitch Jacobs, Dixon in the first half and Eason early in the second.

“We were exhausted today,” Bryant said. “We had a game last night at home (in Jackson, a 4-0 win over Nashville). We had no legs tonight.

“We’re a possession team, and we just couldn’t possess tonight. Baton Rouge always plays us good, no matter what their record is. All our games for the last four years have been ties or one goal one way or the other,” he said.

The Capitals’ second goal, which tied the game at 2-2, came in the 66th minute when Josey Portillo found Philip Stansfield open on the right wing. Stansfield collected the pass and centered the ball to Wooley, who blasted in his second goal of the game.

The win leaves the Brilla (7-1-4) in second place in the Southern Division of the PDL, two points (27-25) behind first place Bradenton.

The Capitals play their next three games on the road against Panama City (July 3 and July 4) and New Orleans (July 11) before ending the season at home against Central Florida (July 17) and Atlanta (July 18).