ABERDEEN, WA— The Snohomish County Steelheads won their 2018 opener by a score of 2-1 over the Grays Harbor Gulls of the Western Washington Premier League (WWPL) in a friendly held at Stewart Field on Sunday April 15. SnoCo FC fell behind before coming back for the victory.
Steelheads goals came from Jesus Alvarado (Andrew Escalante) in the 40th minute and Fabian Panduro (Logen Flem) in the 57th. The Gulls had taken a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute when a long shot from Juanito Lopez hit the goalpost and rebounded onto the feet of Sam Ruiz who then scored the first goal in Gulls history.
More: Match report from The Daily World
SnoCo’s first goal of the year came from a long sideline run from Andrew Escalante who was able to take the ball all the way to the touch line and cross back to a waiting Jesus Alvarado. The winner was started on a long searching ball from midfield by Logen Flem that found Fabian Panduro running into the penalty area. Fabian was able to avoid the goalkeeper and control the ball in the crowd before banging home a left-footed shot.
Fabian Panduro was named by the SnoCo coaches as the Steelheads Man of the Match. It was a solid overall team performance and a match the club feels it can build on. A 3-man back line formation worked well and Snohomish had several chances to put home a third goal. The Steelheads also withstood some late Gulls pressure as they tried to get even before a nice crowd of around 200 fans.
The Steelheads next play in the Spring into the Season tournament in Bremerton on Saturday April 21 where they will see the Gulls again along with the Olympic Force and Bellingham United of the EPLWA and the Harbor Force of the WWPL.
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