Late three-goal outburst leads Drillers to win over Calgary United

The Edmonton Drillers scored three goals in a 55-second span to snatch a win out of the jaws of defeat.

Trailing 8-7 with less than three minutes left in regulation at home to Calgary United in Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League action Saturday, the Drillers took advantage of a goalkeeping error to turn the game on its ear — and came out with a 10-9 win.

“That’s indoor soccer,” said forward Sam Lam, who scored twice in the game. “The game can change in a matter of minutes, even seconds. The momentum changed, and it worked in our favour today.”

As the Drillers pressed for an equalizer, Calgary keeper Marcel Galaskiewicz came out of his area to clear the ball from danger. But, his clearing attempt crashed off the side boards, and rocketed right back at him. It struck him in the arm outside of the area and behind the red line, giving the Drillers a penalty.

Mike McCormick converted the penalty attempt. In CMISL, a shooter is given five seconds to carry and beat the goaltender in a one-on-one confrontation. Earlier in the game, Drillers’ keeper Jay Vetsch didn’t fall for United forward Nicolas Gonzalez’s deke, and foiled that penalty attempt.

Nineteen seconds after the McCormick goal, the Drillers came down the field again, and Sinisa Matic converted from the right side. And, 55 seconds after the penalty, Paul Dhaliwal made it 10-8 for the home side.

Francisco Miron made it 10-9 with a last-minute marker, with Galaskiewicz yanked in favour of an extra attacker.

Marcus Johnstone scored three times for the Drillers; he converted two tap-in opportunities in the first half, then took a bouncing pass from Lam and slammed home a a volley from well outside the arc.

And, with the scored tied 6-6 in the fourth, he dropped his shoulder and muscled his way into the right corner, then rolled a pass to Lam, who made no mistake from front of goal.

“We played together at the University (of Alberta),” said Johnstone of the chemistry that exists between him and Lam, who is an FC Edmonton prospect. “We’re similar-minded players.

“We definitely help each other out,” said Lam. “We look to play it to each other. We played together all summer.”

After Lam’s goal made it 7-6, the Drillers looked to have thrown away the game. Coleman McFarlane levelled the score halfway into fourth. Right after that, Driller defender James Malkin got into a tussle with Calgary’s Mat Arok, and was assessed a penalty for losing his head — a foolish penalty at a critical juncture. Malkin went to the box, and Calgary’s Konrad Paszkowski had an easy chance to finish in front of goal after Drillers defender Chris Devlin collided with his keeper.

But, Calgary came unravelled in a 55-second span, and the Drillers (3-1) were able to avenge a New Year’s eve 7-6 loss to the defending league champs in Cowtown.

Next weekend, California of the PASL comes to town for what promises to be the Drillers’ toughest test of the season.

“Usually, these are the game that allow us to see where we are,” said Johnstone. “Those (PASL) teams are able to train five days a week, which we can’t do.”