Nomads Defeat San Francisco for WSL Title

SAN DIEGO —  On a night when nothing seemed to go right offensively for the San Diego Nomads, it was fitting that they scored the game’s lone goal because of an errant pass that everyone overran.

Perhaps beggars can’t be choosers, but they can be champions. The game-winner, headed just just inside the unguarded left post by Paul Wright four minutes into the second half, was only the third shot the Nomads had managed all evening. But it not only gave them a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks; it clinched their second Western Soccer League championship in three years.

The winning play began inconspicuously. The ball was played from Jerome Watson in front of the penalty area to Thien Nguyen on the right wing. But it never really got to Nguyen, not at first, anyway.

Nguyen was unable to meet the pass as he ran in from the sideline with two defenders on his back. After the ball slipped past and rolled toward the corner, Nguyen regrouped, shook the defenders and got to it just before it went out of bounds.

“I thought the defender had it,” said Nguyen, whose seven regular-season assists were a league record. “But right when I ran past the defender, I looked up and saw Paul in the middle, so I just went for Paul.”

All alone in the corner, Nguyen sent a perfect cross into the middle, where Wright stood unmarked. A simple deflection off his head was all it took.

But then again, there had been nothing simple about getting past the Blackhawk defense. In all, the Nomads managed just five shots to the Blackhawks’ 16.

“The stats were all in our favor,” said Dean Wurzberger, Blackhawk coach. “But that’s soccer. . . . We should have decided it in the first 20 minutes of play.”

Wurzberger got no argument from the Nomads. San Francisco Bay had its chances. Townsend Qin, a five-year Chinese National team player from Shanghai who answered a want-ad for players last winter, was responsible for creating the Blackhawks’ best opportunities.

Some 33 minutes into the game, Qin tackled the ball away from Nomad defender Tommy Reasoner. He dribbled into the penalty area, drew sweeper Arturo Velazco to him and dished off to wide-open Steve Corpening some 20 yards in front of the goal.

Corpening’s shot whistled by onrushing Anton Nistle, the Nomad goalie, and appeared headed for the net.

But it banked off the far right post.

Just two minutes later, the Blackhawk forwards were challenging Nistle once again. This time Qin sent a cross in front of the goal from the right sideline, meeting David Palic just five feet off the line.

Palic didn’t even have to beat Nistle this time--the goalie was out of position having missed at punching the cross wide. But this time, the crossbar provided the defense.