Cure Survive Thriller

Last week, St. Louis Cure GM/Coach Kirk Lodes was quoted saying "We are an attacking team. We score on you and if you can't keep up, you lose." Never has that been more true than in the Cure's week 6 contest, when the Cure outlasted the Stags to win 8-5, improving their record to 5-0-1. The Cure were slow starters this week, being shutout on Wednesday's portion of the schedule; they were behind 1-0 thanks to a Adam Christman assist. A Marko Perovic red card did give them a chance to put on Chad Barrett for his Cure debut. During Saturday's early games, the Cure built up a lead. Edson Buddle and Javier Morales put them ahead with an assist apiece, but the real star was Barrett, scoring twice to make it a fabulous start in a Cure uniform. Burud's Eddie Gaven and the Cure's Robbie Rogers traded goals, giving the Cure what seemed would be a impenetrable lead at 5-2. Bobby Convey then had a hat trick of assists, adding what it seemed would be insurance points. Instead, they wound up being the game winners, as Burud fought back and made the final score 8-5 thanks to points by Brian Mullan and Brad Davis. Lodes summarized his feelings, "Ultimately, the game came down to substitutes and team selection. We got two huge goals off the bench by Barrett, while the Stags left points off the field. A little luck never hurts. We've had some fortunate moments, but those thing tend to even out over a season. Words can't express how happy I am with squads performance so far this season." Lodes was alluding to the Stags Kai Kamara, Kheli Dube and Joey Gjersten, all unused subs. Had they been on the field, the result may have been quite different.