Albion San Diego regained the second seed in the NISA standings after a 1-0 road victory over the Maryland Bobcats on Wednesday night. Albion scored the game’s only goal in the 38th minute after a shot from forward Alexander Dalou hit the post with the ball finding the waiting right foot of teammate Cyrus Tran who beat goalkeeper Alex Sutton.

“I was very pleased with the team,” said Albion San Diego head coach Diego Gomez. “Maryland is a good team, but we put together a solid game plan and took the lead in the first half.”

The match saw several yellow cards issued with the Bobcats receiving five including one to Sutton who the referee deemed had retaliated after a foul on one of his teammates.

The second half saw the Bobcats press forward trying to get the equalizer with its best chance coming in the 62nd minute on a free-kick by forward Darwin Espinal from 25 yards away. Espinal, tied for the league lead in goals with 11, managed to hit the post but goalkeeper Ben Roach quickly reacted and punched the ball off the line before two Maryland players got there. The result ended up as the 12th clean sheet for Roach this season which ties him with Chattanooga FC goalkeeper Jean Antoine for most in NISA.

“Our defense as a whole came up big and was the main reason for the victory,” Gomez added. “Ben (Roach) has been huge for us all season. That save was a key moment in the game, but it was an all-around team effort.”

Albion San Diego now travels to Rochester, N.Y. to take on Flower City Union on Saturday, Oct. 7 before returning home to close the regular season against the Michigan Stars on Oct. 15.

If Albion can win its final two games and Los Angeles Force does not win its remaining three matches then the coveted second seed could end up being decided by goal differential. Albion San Diego currently has a +10 differential compared to +9 for Los Angeles, which has played one less game, and a +7 for Michigan, which has played three fewer matches.

Photo by John Cocozza Photography