Last Updated on April 19, 2021 by CCAR Staff
ONTARIO – The opportunity for the Ontario Fury to win a Major Arena Soccer League championship came crashing to the turf with 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining.
Claysson De Lima, the league’s goalkeeper of the year, suffered a concussion after he was upended in a collision and landed on his head, and the game-winning goal was scored moments later as the Fury lost the Ron Newman Cup Final, 2-1, to the San Diego Sockers at Toyota Arena on Sunday.
“It’s very disappointing,” said team captain Isreal Sesay, who has played with the Fury since their inaugural season in 2014. “To go through all the effort for this – it’s tough. It’s very, very disappointing.”
The Fury, which lost Friday’s series opener 7-3, battled back to win 6-5 in overtime in Game 2 and force the decisive 15-minute mini-game.
Abdul Mansaray gave Ontario a 1-0 lead mid-way through the mini-game but the Sockers equalized just 12 seconds later on a goal from Marcio Leite.
The Sockers withstood a Fury power play in the mini-game and with less than 2 minutes had cleared the ball over the midfield line where De Lima challenged – and won the ball – with a header but was turned upside down in the air and fell uncontrolled to the playing surface.
After several minutes, De Lima was able to walk off the field but did not return and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Jesus Molina entered as his replacement and was not in 45 seconds before Sockers captain Kraig Chiles sent a looping ball to put teammate Cesar Cerda one-on-one to score the game-winner.
“It’s exciting but it’s been a long time waiting for this moment,” Chiles said. “This season has been so special. The way we’ve bonded and come together, it couldn’t be sweeter.”
The Fury put an extra attacker on for the final minute and had a scoring chance snuffed out in the final seconds despite the Sockers goalkeeper deliberately handling the ball while outside his area.
The play was challenged by Fury coach Jimmy Nordberg, and after a video review that was conclusive in Ontario’s favor, referee Kyle Trimble determined the play was legal.
“It was a clear handball outside the box and the referees didn’t have the gravitas to make the call,” Nordberg said. “The referees are shocking. They’re absolutely horrible.”
Frank Tayou, who scored three goals in Game 2 and was the series’ leading scorer with five goals, was disconsolate after the final buzzer and needed to be consoled by coaches and teammates.
“Frank is an unbelievable human being, he’s an unbelievable leader and he’s the face of our team,” Nordberg said. “He’s played terrific and I’m sad we couldn’t bring back a trophy for him.”
De Lima made 14 saves, and Robert Palmer scored the golden goal in overtime as the Fury came back from an early two-goal deficit to win Game 2.
