17 goals and only a one goal margin made for a spectacular finish to the England and Costa Rica three game set
The 9-8 victory for Costa Rica over England was even more exciting than the final score indicates. The game was a see-saw match that had England jump out to an early lead, and then Costa Rica seemed comfortably in the lead late, only to have the English side recover to tie the game; however Costa Rica had the last word with an extremely late goal. England star Mitch Day also continued his torrid scoring pace when he netted the opening goal to give him 14 goals in 10 matches at the ITV Fever Pitch despite coming off the pitch on Monday with an apparent leg injury.
The opening frame had plenty of goals and some high-quality acrobatic saves. England held the early intensity advantage and notched five first period goals to the four that Costa Rica scored. The scoring slowed in the middle frame, not by much, but the energy certainly did not. Both sides exchanged goals but this time Costa Rica leveled the score at 6 just before the period ended. The Central Americans took their first lead of the game in the opening minutes of the final frame at 7-6. The Costa Ricans then looked poised to cruise to victory but the Three Lions stormed back and tied the game with just over a minute remaining. The Costa Ricans bent but they did not break as they countered in the final seconds with the deciding goal.
Goals: 1-0: Day, min. 11 (1); 2-0: Temple, min. 11 (1); 2-1: Pacheco, min. 9 (1); 3-1: Clarke, min. 4 (1); 3-2: Mendoza, min. 4 (1); 4-2: Evans, min. 2 (1); 5-2: Clarke, min. 1 (1); 5-3: Johnson, min. 0 (1); 5-4: Mendoza, min. 0 (1); 5-5: Leon, min. 11 (2); 6-5: Morris, min. 10 (2); 6-6: Sanchez, min. 0 (2); 6-7: Pacheco, min. 10 (3); 6-8: Sanchez, min. 6 (3); 7-8: Mitchell, min. 6 (3); 8-8: Morris, min. 1 (3); 8-9: Pacheco, min. 0 (3).
Match Results:
Tuesday, 24th of June, 2014
England 8-9 Costa Rica
