| Outlaws
have to settle with tie
By Dan Rasmussen
Deseret Morning News
OGDEN
— Penalty-kick misses have haunted the Ogden Outlaws throughout
their inaugural season, and that problem struck again Saturday evening.
Ogden was tied 2-2 with Abbotsford when
it won a penalty kick in the 82nd minute. With a chance to win the game
and vault past Abbotsford into second place in the Northwest Division
of the Premier Development League, Dustin Bybee blazed the ensuing spot
kick over the bar.
It was the Outlaws' fourth penalty-kick
miss of the season and, when neither team scored after the errant shot,
the game finished in a 2-2 draw.
"I think it's the jinx of Ogden High
School," said coach Mike Hickman.
All four penalty misses have come at home,
and three of the four have come when the Outlaws were playing toward the
south end.
Saturday's result leaves Abbotsford in second
place at 14 points. Ogden remains one point back at 13.
After being largely outplayed in the first
half, Ogden sprang to life after halftime. Hickman has employed a 3-5-2
formation, rather than a 4-4-2, during the Outlaws' last two home games,
and Bruno Baca led Ogden's five-man midfield in the second half.
Trailing 2-1 midway through the second half,
Baca equalized for the Outlaws. When the ball was played to him deep inside
the six-yard box, he smartly clipped the ball over Abbotsford's goalie
and into the net.
Baca created a number of dangerous opportunities
for his squad after halftime.
"He played well through the midfield,"
said Hickman.
Abbotsford initially went ahead 1-0 when
Jason Jorgenson headed home a Simon Crocker cross in the 15th minute.
Kenneth Hickman equalized for the Outlaws just before halftime.
Mike Riehl had the Rangers' other strike.
Now Ogden turns its attention to its first-round
U.S. Open Cup game at Sonoma County of California this Wednesday. Just
qualifying for the nationwide tournament was a big accomplishment, but
will the Outlaws have any specific goals for the competition?
"Just take it one game at a time,"
said Hickman.
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