Alan Kornspan
Believeland Media
Photo Courtesy of Cleveland Crunch.
Photo Credit: RAW IMAGE and Kim Karbon Photography
The City of Cleveland has won another professional sports championship as the Cleveland Crunch defeated the Omaha Kings, 9-4 in the Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS) Championship Game.
After winning the title, Tom Beck, who led the Crunch with a hat-trick, talked about winning the MLIS Championship.
"It's a great feeling,” said Beck.
“A lot of hard work and long training sessions, a lot of conditioning.”
“It definitely paid off in the end and it's a good feeling.”
Beck helped the Crunch jump ahead early as they took a 4-0 lead heading into halftime.
After adding a goal early in the third quarter, the Kings stormed back with 4 unanswered goals to put the pressure on the Crunch in the fourth quarter.
Staying calm, the Crunch rose to the occasion by scoring four unanswered goals of their own to end the game and claim a 9-4 victory and the MLIS Championship.
In the post-game interview, Cleveland Crunch Head Coach, Antonio Manfut, said that he just made sure that the team stayed calm, cool and collected as they dealt with the fourth quarter pressure.
“They took in the pressure, they accepted it, they dealt with it and they came out champions,” said Manfut.
“They did an unbelievable job all game.”
The Crunch scored the first of their four first half goals when former Ohio State Buckeye standout, Kevin Blackwood, scored with 4 minutes left in the first quarter.
The Crunch extended their lead to 2-0 when Dave Jordan scored with 6:36 remaining in the second quarter.
With 5:04 left in the second quarter, Mikey Derezic put the Crunch ahead 3-0 after an incredible bicycle kick assist from Beck.
Ma’Cain Spragling completed the first half scoring as he gave the Crunch a 4-0 lead with 1:31 left in the second quarter.
28 seconds after halftime, the Crunch went ahead 5-0 in the third quarter when Aidan Bozak scored.
Although trailing 5-0, the Kings did not give up and scored three third quarter goals to make the score 5-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
And with 12:43 left in the championship game, the Kings scored to get within one goal of the Crunch at 5-4.
As Manfut mentioned, the Crunch stayed calm.
Over the next 6 and a half minutes, the Crunch scored three goals, two by Beck and one by Bobi Cancar as they took an 8-4 lead with 5:51 left to go.
The Crunch scored their final goal of the game when former Cleveland State Viking, Parker Csiszar, scored with 39 seconds remaining in the game.