Splash Contributes to SeaDog Win

ANAHEIM — Player/coach Dale Ervine stressed he didn’t want his team to hassle officials this season, but he could have been excused if he backed off on that rule in the second half of Sunday’s game against Seattle.

Five first-half penalties led to three Seattle power-play goals as the SeaDogs defeated the Splash, 9-6, in front of an announced crowd of 3,830 at the Pond.

Seattle’s Continental Indoor Soccer League victory gave it the best start in team history (3-0) and dropped the Splash to 1-1.

Officials whistled the Splash for eight penalties overall and twice called Bernie Lilavois for hand balls, both of which negated apparent scores.

Lilavois admitted to the first offense, but not the second--his diving header that would have cut the Splash deficit to 6-4 less than three minutes into the second half.

“It was definitely a header or I never would have argued the call,” said Lilavois, who had two assists but was called for three penalties. “I guess [referee Brian Hall] had a better angle from 70 feet behind the play.”

The Splash, never penalized more than 12 minutes in a game last year, were whistled for 10 in the first half, 16 in the game--three short of the team record. Seattle was whistled for two in the first half, 10 overall.

Ervine called the penalties “soft” and without purpose.

The Splash had the league’s second-best penalty-killing unit last year (64.1%), but showed little success in the first half; Seattle converted three of five opportunities--all finished by Jean Harbor to match the league record. They gave Seattle leads of 3-1, 5-2 and 6-3.

Teammate John Olu Molomo scored Seattle’s final three goals, matching Splash goals by Doug Neely and Danny Barber (two). Molomo’s four goals tied a team record and six points set a record.

Barber had three goals, making him the all-time league leader. The Splash had only one short-handed goal last year, but Barber has two in two games.

The Splash scored 1 minute 44 seconds into the game on Francisco Jaime’s goal, but “instead of raising our level of intensity, our level of intensity dropped,” Ervine said. “They won all the 50-50 balls, they were a step quicker and started dictating the pace of the game.”

The Splash outshot Seattle, 49-25, but weren’t nearly as efficient. Seattle scored in the final 30 seconds of the first, third and fourth quarters, though the last was Olu Molomo’s empty-netter against a sixth attacker.

The first came when Jason Dunn scored 11 seconds after Armando Valdivia cut the Splash deficit to 3-2. The second came 1:39 after Barber cut the deficit to two goals (7-5) at the end of the third quarter.

“Someone throws you a life preserver and you drop it,” Barber said. “That’s inexcusable. The first two minutes and the last two minutes of every quarter are [critical].”