Toshi Davis the catalyst as Annapolis Blues defeat DMV Elite, 6-2, in front of 11,171 fans
The Annapolis Blues once again made history by drawing a tremendous crowd of 11,171 to Saturday night’s home opener against DMV Elite.
The Annapolis Blues have spent months mounting a “shellout” campaign to get 10,000 fans to their home opener.
Team officials have flooded social media with posts promoting the initiative. Their efforts paid off in spades.
Annapolis once again made history by drawing a tremendous crowd of 11,171 to Saturday night’s match against DMV Elite at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Blues broke their own National Premier Soccer League regular season attendance record of 8,368 set during last season’s home opener.
“Unbelievable!” Blues general manager Fred Matthes said. “Actually, it’s very believable because the support for this team is so incredible. Nothing surprises us anymore because our fans are amazing and keep showing up in droves.”
On such a special night amidst a super-charged electric atmosphere, it was almost incumbent on the home team to send the huge crowd home happy. Sure enough, the Blues gave their rabid fans plenty to cheer about.
Midfielder Toshi Davis scored two goals and added an assist as Annapolis defeated DMV Elite, 6-2. Midfielder Rich Monath and defender Matt Helfrich scored the other goals for the Blues, who remain unbeaten at 4-0.
Midfielder and team captain Matias de Jesus contributed an assist for the Blues, who outshot the visitors 14-4.
“There were a lot of positives tonight, but also a lot of things we still need to work on,” Blues coach Colin Herriot said. ‘I was really proud of how the guys managed to handle the crowd and the occasion. Our energy and effort was really good tonight.”
Annapolis controlled play throughout the first half and had several near misses before finally breaking through and getting on the scoreboard. Davis dribbled deep into enemy territory to just outside the left side of the goal, forcing goalie Oliver Weng to hug the post.
Davis then deftly dished the ball back to Monath, who was charging in from the front side. With the goalie way out of position, Monath easily finished with a firm shot off his right foot, giving the Blues a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute.
Davis was the catalyst as the Blues broke open the game by scoring three goals in the span of five minutes early in the second half.
Davis started the onslaught by pouncing on a loose ball and pounding it into the back of the net with a right-footed volley. That scoring opportunity came as a result of a failed clear as a DMV Elite defender headed the ball right to Davis.
Three minutes later, Davis again gained possession on the offensive end and this time used his left foot to deliver a well-placed shot that arced just over the keeper’s head and suddenly it was 3-0.
“I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not,” Herriot said. “I see Toshi score goals like that in practice all the time. He’s a real dangerous threat and you saw that tonight.”
Helfrich capped the decisive stretch by scoring off a corner kick after DMV Elite once again failed on a clearing opportunity. Helfrich gathered a loose ball with plenty of time and space then hammered it past the diving Weng to increase the Annapolis lead to 4-0.
“Matty has the license to get forward and was in the right area at the right time — just a great finish,” Herriot said.
Davis believes the aggressive playing style and high work rate of the Blues generated the three-goal barrage that put the home team in control.
“A lot of times, because of the way we play, we get a lot of chances in the second half. We were just playing the patient game and tonight it paid off,” Davis said. “I really can’t take the credit because it’s every player on the field making things happen. I was just lucky enough to be in position to score those two goals.”
DMV Elite made things interesting by scoring twice in the span of four minutes to cut the lead in half. Fabian Amhof was in perfect position to finish a crossing pass with a header in the 70th minute, beating backup goalie Saxon Wolcott from point-blank range.
Wolcott was well above the box when Dewi Benham came charging ahead on a breakaway. Too far from the goal to retreat into a defensive position, Wolcott’s only choice was to try to tackle Benham and was unsuccessful, leading to an easy empty net goal, reducing the deficit to 4-2 in the 74th minute.
“You never like to concede goals, but I think we made so many changes in such a short period of time that we lost our rhythm a little bit,” Herriot said. “That’s no excuse. We shouldn’t be allowing two goals as quickly as that.”
The Blues responded well to the rally and quickly quashed any hopes of a comeback. Midfielder William Hitchcock came off the bench to score in the 90th minute, beating Weng one-on-one after running down a beautiful through ball.
Annapolis striker Alex Abril, who also entered as a substitute in the second half, finished the scoring with a wicked left-footed shot into the far corner.
Alexandria Rough Diamonds at Annapolis Blues
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Friday, 7 p.m.