The Pride battled out to an early lead in the first quarter. Derick Sullivan (Parma/Baldwin-Wallace) scored on a breakaway goal at the 6:56 mark, by dribbling past goalkeeper Alfredo Hernandez to make the score 2-0. Anthony Ghanem (Berea/Case Western) isolated Sullivan on a splitting pass through the FC Indiana defense for the assist.

In the second quarter, Ghanem would prove to be a major weapon for the Pride. The 19-year old rookie scored twice in the second. The first, off an assist from Doug Buczak (Parma/Cuyahoga Community), Ghanem received the ball just to the left of the penalty spot and slotted the ball through the legs of Hernandez to make the score 4-0 with 9:11 remaining. FC Indiana would battle back to make the score 4-2, when Humberto Valadez received a quick outlet throw from Hernandez and scored on the counter-attack at the 3:11 minute mark. Ghanem would provide the answer with just nine seconds before halftime. With the Pride on a power play, captain Ben Dotson (Brunswick/Baldwin-Wallace) swerved a ball to the feet of Ghanem inside the penalty area who turned and finished into lower side netting to make the halftime score 6-2.

In the third quarter, FC Indiana would grab the momentum from Cleveland early. At the 10:37 mark, Buczak tripped FC Indiana captain Chris Castro in the box. Castro would bury the resulting penalty to make the score 6-4.

In the final period, Cleveland fought valiantly but could not hold the lead. At the 8:41 mark would cause another goal. Castro split two Cleveland Pride defenders 20 yards from net and shot the ball into another defender. The ball deflected past goalkeeper Joe Emery (Lakewood) and into the upper corner to knot the match at 6-6. FC Indiana would score the game’s final goal with just over five minutes remaining. Castro stole the ball at midfield and led a three on two break. Castro beat his defender and laid the ball off to Martin Esquivias who buried the ball past Emery for the game-winning goal.

In between the pipes, Emery made 15 saves. For FC Indiana, Fernandez made 23 saves.

The Cleveland Pride and FC Indiana will meet again next weekend. The team will debut their new home facility, Game Day Sports Center in Oberlin, Ohio, Sunday, February 10th. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

For ticket information please call Game Day Sports Center at (440) 774.2637 or the team’s official sponsor, Frontline Soccer Shop at (440) 777.6083. Fans can also email at tickets@theclevelandpride.com.

More recent headlines...