The Portage Daily Graphic - Aeros fly low in weekend set

BY NEATE SAGER
The Daily Graphic

It was a weekend to forget for Southport Aeros - or maybe it was one they will remember.
Typically, any team with the Aeros' experience will remind themselves how they do not wish to revisit their poorer performances. By their own admission, the Aeros had two subpar showings this weekend, losing 5-2 to Eritrean at Southport Recreation Centre on Sunday after dropping a 3-2 decision to Low Profile S.C. in Winnipeg on Friday. Both teams are new to Manitoba Major Soccer League's second division, having played third last summer.
"Everybody knows that we're better than that," forward Steve Wasyliw said last night. "We know we have injuries right now, but the effort wasn't there."
The latest veteran Aero to come out of the lineup is Tony Bryson, who did not play on Sunday after hurting an ankle against Low Profile. Defender Cam Scott is out for the season after breaking his left leg in the season opener on May 20. Seasoned midfielder Chad Green still has two games left in a suspension he received for taking a red card during that match.
Still, coach Mitch Walker said the Aeros realize they can overcome the loss of the three experienced players.
"There's not too many new faces on our team," Walker said. "There's maybe one in Gary Bergen and the rest of us played together last year. We need a couple practices where we can sort things out. The skill development will come back right away. We'll improve our ball control and pick up where we left off at the end of last year, when we had a successful season."
Duane Chaves scored both goals for the Aeros (1-2-0) in the loss to Eritrean, which is off to a successful start in second division with a 3-0-1 record. Samuel Arefine scored twice for Eritrean, who led 2-0 at halftime.
The Aeros briefly rallied in the second half, cutting the visitors' lead to 3-2 when Chaves scored off a header. Less than 10 minutes later, Arefine tallied to restore the two-goal spread.
Chaves and Wasyliw scored for Southport in Friday's loss to Low Profile. The Aeros had a 2-1 halftime lead before fading in the final 45 minutes.
"We had different guys in different positions and the communication was lacking," Wasyliw said. "You didn't hear much talking on the field, guys calling each other off or saying they were going to take it."
The Aeros will try to even their record on Friday when they face winless Juventus in Winnipeg.
75 GOOD MINUTES
Southport United also came away empty-handed against the first-place club in their division on Sunday. United had the satisfaction of being the first team to score against fourth division-leaders Penarol S.C., who pulled away late to win 5-1.
"It was a good game for 75 minutes," United coach Karl Seidlitz said afterwards.
"We were playing the class of the league, the team that's been outscoring their opponents 14-0 so far this year. We were 1-1 up until about the 75th minute. They scored an offside goal and as far as we can tell, we self-destructed. For some reason, we just stopped running. But we had 75 good minutes.
"It should have been maybe a 2-1 game, maybe. The skill level was extremely high. I was impressed."
Bill Meadows had the lone goal for United, which will try for its first win of 2004 when they travel south to face Carman Kickers on Thursday.
"We're pretty confident we should be able to maul them," Seidlitz said. "If we play half as well as we did against this team we played today, we will win. Carman has played fairly well this year, but I don't think they're up to our level."
United's next home match is against Ragnarok on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Southport.

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