Wisconsin Soccer Central

Jim Launder knew the situation his Madison 56ers team was in, so he threw caution to the wind late in Saturday night's game against the St. Paul Twin Stars at Breese Stevens Field.

"I decided to throw another guy up front and forget the defense," Launder said of his move to bring in UW-Platteville forward Tyrone Creech (Madison East) in the 85th minute — the last of several offensive-minded substitutes.

Creech nearly made the move pay off the first time he touched the ball, getting a shot past Twin Stars goalkeeper Alex Nyom in the 88th minute, but a St. Paul defender cleared the ball off the line and the teams settled for a 1-1 tie in a National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region match.

The draw in what Launder called "one of the better games of the year," left the 56ers (5-3-2 overall, 3-2-1 NPSL) with only slim hopes of winning the regional title and advancing to the national semifinals, which will be played July 31 and Aug. 1 at Breese.

Madison needs to beat FC Indiana and Eau Claire Aris FC next weekend and have a series of other results go its way — namely, Chicago Fire NPSL (3-1-1) and the Twin Stars (3-2-1) can't win more than once in their final matches. Those teams meet Sunday in Rockford, Ill.

"We knew we needed to win," Launder said of Saturday's game. "If we weren't going to win, the heck with it. A tie or a loss was like ... we need a win, so let's go for it."

As has been the trend lately, Madison dominated the game statistically, but that didn't lead to victory. The Twin Stars had some good early possession, Launder said, but Igor Stosic's opening goal in the 29th minute came after a fortunate bounce on a counter attack against the run of play.

"It was a nice play," Launder said. "They played a 1-2 behind and Bram (Dorrestyn) came over and tackled the ball. And I'm not sure that this guy would have scored on the shot, but the ball squirted into the middle off of the tackle, right to their best player. And he just put it in."

From there, the 56ers controlled most of the match. But it took Madison until the 72nd minute to find the equalizer — and this one did come on a substitute's first touch of the night, as Marquette's Nick Kay (Stevens Point) beat Nyom off a pass from Butler's Kyle Pateros (Janesville Craig).

"Pateros came back in off the line and turned, and he was making a nice diagonal run, and he slotted it so he could hit it first time," Launder said. "He's running on an angle across the goal, and the ball's coming on an angle to him, and he hit it first time. It was a nice finish. It was a nice ball. And it was his first touch of the game."

But despite their possession and chances, the 56ers couldn't find another goal and what would have been two more big points in the table.

"The second half, we were all over them," Launder said. "They were quite happy to get away with a tie at the end of the day.

"We kept piling it on, we just didn't get the second goal."

The 56ers play local side Latina de Futbol in a friendly on Sunday night at Breese, then close out the regular season next weekend at home.

As was the case at the USASA Region II Amateur Cup last month, in which Madison won its final two matches and nearly advanced against long odds, Launder said he'll shoot for two wins and let the chips fall where they may.

"Maybe a miracle happens, you know?" he said. "But we're going to try to go play as well as we can in the games, and enjoy the soccer while we're there."

St. Paul Twin Stars — Igor Stosic 29
Madison 56ers — Nick Kay (Kyle Pateros) 72

ST. PAUL TWIN STARS: Not available.
MADISON 56ERS: Jon Szafranski; Will Howell (Chris Brown time NA), Bram Dorrestyn, Cale Cooper (Will Ziegahn NA), J.C. Banks; Keith Dangarembwa (Eric Meyer 59), Kyle Pateros, Trevor Banks, William Bagayoko (Pablo Delgado 34), Henry Aiyenero (Tyrone Creech 85); Iyla Ksenidi (Nick Kay 71).

Saves: SP (Nyom) 8; M (Szafranski) 4. Shots: SP 5, M 13. Corner kicks: SP 3, M 8. Fouls: SP 10, M 9. Offsides: SP 3, M 2. Discipline: SP — Name not available (41, caution).