JP Cappadano had a goal and an assist, and Scott Tedder and Greg Howes also scored as John & Phil's Willamette Valley Firebirds topped the Spokane Shadow 3-1, clinching the Northwest divison regular-season title.

The match was a physical one right from the opening whistle, with both teams having players warned for hard tackles in the first few minutes. Neither team had made a serious threat when a fortunate rebound went the Firebirds way. In the 6th minute, Spokane defender Justin Franson attempted a shot on goal from just outside the Firebirds box when the shot was blocked by a Firebirds defender. The hard shot ricocheted off the defender's knee all the way back into the Spokane half of the field, where Firebirds forward Scott Tedder got possession of the ball behind the Shadow defense. He dribbled in on Spokane goalkeeper Brian Mullen one-on-one and pushed the ball easily into the bottom right hand corner to give the Firebirds an early 1-0 lead.

In the 29th minute, Spokane equalized when Spokane forward Dave Berto received a pass from midfielder Tim Seely and avoided two sliding tackles from Firebirds defenders and beat Firebirds goalkeeper Paul Merten low to even the game 1-1.

The game continued to be a physical one, with three cards being issued between the 32nd and 37th minute. The most significant card however was the red card issued to Shadow midfielder Chad Brown for a hard, late tackle that would have the Firebirds up a man for the rest of the match. The last time the Firebirds hosted the Shadow on June 17, it was the Firebirds who played most of the match down a man in their 1-0 win.

During halftime, Firebirds coach Tony Vandermeer changed his strategy to make the best of the man advantage, and the strategy seemed to work, as the Firebirds controlled the ball for most of the second half. In the 61st minute, after several Firebirds shots had narrowly missed the target, the home team finally retook the lead when forward JP Cappadano beat two Shadow defenders and took a well-placed shot from 25 yards out that seemed to fool the Shadow goalkeeper by being not as quite as hard a shot as he expected, and scored just inside the right goal post to give the Firebirds a 2-1 lead.

The Firebirds continued to control the flow of play, and just two minutes later added the bonus point when JP Cappadano dribbled into the box from the right side, then cut the ball back diagonally to midfielder Greg Howes, who struck the ball solidly into the bottom left corner of the net for the 3-1 final.

Shadow goalkeeper Brian Mullen had six saves for the visitors. Firebirds starting goalkeeper Paul Merten had three saves, while newly acquired Ben Meckel, who played the second half, had two saves.

Starters:
Firebirds: Paul Merten (Ben Meckel 46'), Casey Fries (JP Cappadano 29'), Bryn Ritchie (Eric Cronkrite 82'), Freddy Kummernes, Jason Crevar, Eric Merten (Dan Angelo 75'), Greg Howes, Scott Tomlins, Eric Wooten, Pete Cavanaugh, Scott Tedder
Shadow: Brian Mullen, Dave Berto (Abbas Farindnia 60'), Craig Hampton (Aaron Grubb 63'), Tim Seely (Zach Kingsley 58'), Zane Higgins, Jeff McAllister, Chad Brown, Billy Sleeth, Marg Hogenhout, Kris Hollingshead, Justin Franson

Attendance: 600 (estimate)

Shots: Firebirds 12, Shadow 6
Saves:: Firebirds 5, Shadow 6
Fouls: Firebirds 15, Shadow 15
Corners: Firebirds 6, Shadow 1
Offsides: Firebirds 7, Shadow 3
Cards: Firebirds 1 (JP Cappadano 32' Yellow), Shadow 2 (Dave Berto 34' Yellow, Chad Brown 37' Red)


Match report and photos by Allison Andrews