2006-06-18
Author: POL Sports/Ardin Masson
The Portage Blaze played to a 2-2 draw with the St.James Storm on Friday night with Pam Nicoll and Jill Fast scoring for the Blaze, bringing Portage's record to 1 Win,  2 Ties and 2 Losses on the year.
 
The Blaze went down 1-0 in the first half when an unmarked Storm player hammered a shot from well outside the right corner of the penalty area. Pam Nicoll had a chance to tie the game on a penalty kick, but her shot just missed wide left. Nicoll had not missed a penalty shot in her entire Blaze career up until that point. She made up for the miss with a goal just before the half on a booming shot from 40 yards out that sailed in over the keepers head.
 
In the 2nd half the Blaze dominated the play and were awarded with plenty of great scoring opportunities. With 11 minutes left, Jill Fast finally put the Blaze up 2-1 with a chip shot over the keeper and into the right side of the net. However, 3 minutes later, the Storm came back down the field with a quick passing play to tie the game. The Blaze defenders only saw the Storm reach the Blaze end 4 times in the half, and simply fell asleep at the switch at the worst possible time. The Blaze outworked and outplayed the Storm and deserved a win, but will have to settle for the tie and the all important point in the standings.
 
The Blaze look to be turning a corner on the season with the tie and are hoping for their first win on the road this Wednesday, at 7:30pm at Red River College vs. the Northstars.