fresnofuego.com: In the News

FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno Fuego lose 6-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes in front of a crowd of 3,724 at Chukchansi Park in a pre-season exhibition match.

The night was highlighted by former Fuego player Pablo Campos, as he capped the scoring with a goal against his former team. He broke away from a few defenders and scored his first goal in an Earthquakes uniform with 20 minutes left in the match.

San Jose jumped on the board first with a goal from Johnson.  Johnson received a long pass from Quakes goalkeeper Andrew Weber, broke loose into the box and shot the ball past Fuego goalkeeper Brandon Cave.

A few minutes later Weber was tested and came up with a big stop.  Jesus Santiago broke loose and charged toward the goal, but Weber made a spectacular save to keep the Fuego off the scoreboard.

The Earthquakes struck again in the 26th minute, as Alvarez found Cam Weaver on the right side and he crossed the ball to an open Huckerby. The Englishman then hammered a shot into the center of the goal for a 2-0 advantage.

San Jose continued to pressure the Fuego and it paid off with another goal late in the first half.  In the 39th minute, Johnson made a pass to Alvarez, who broke away from three defenders and rifled a shot to the upper right hand corner of the goal that Cave could not stop.

San Jose took a 3-0 lead going into halftime even though they only had a 4-3 edge in shots on goal. “The score could have been a lot different if we had put our chances away,” said Fresno Fuego Head Coach Scott Alcorn. “They put their chance away and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Minutes into the second half, Huckerby got free on the left wing and crossed the ball to Alvarez in front of goal. He blasted a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the night.

In the 58th minute Alvarez played a ball down the line and Weaver dribbled past the Fuego goalkeeper and scored the fifth goal for San Jose.

The Fuego continued to put pressure on by creating scoring chances into the second half. Midfielder Jose Cuevas had back-to-back scoring chance though came up blank as Earthquakes held on to the shut out.

Pablo Campos scored the final goal of the night with 20 minutes left to give the Earthquakes a 6-0 lead.

San Jose Earthquakes vs Fresno Fuego
February 20, 2008 – Chukchansi Park; Fresno, California

Scoring Summary:  SJ –  Ryan Johnson (Andrew Weber) 4; SJ – Darren Huckerby (Cam Weaver, Arturo Alvarez) 27, SJ – Arturo Alvarez (Ryan Johnson) 40, Arturo Alvarez (Darren Huckerby) 49, Cam Weaver (Arturo Alvarez) 58; Pablo Campos (unassisted) 70.

Misconduct Summary:  FF- Blanco Milton (caution) 34; SJ – Darren Huckerby (caution) 44; SJ – Kelly Gray (caution) 74; SJ – John Cunliffe (ejection) 80

San Jose Earthquakes –  Andrew Weber, Eric Denton, Nick Garcia, Jason Hernandez (Ancil Farrier) 60, Kelly Gray, Darren Huckerby (Alfonso Motagalvan) 66, Simon Elliot (John Culiffe) 60, Ned Grabavoy, Arturo Alvarez (Shea Salinas) 60, Cam Weaver (Pablo Campos) 60, Ryan Johnson (Davide Somma) 60.

Fresno Fuego – Brandon Cave (Mads Aastrup) 45, Raul Rivera (Adam Arteaga) 79, Paul Moran (Kiel McClung) 54, Gaston Cignetti (Devon Grousis) 72, Eddie Gutierrez, Jesus Santiago, Adrian Alvarado (Jose Cuevas) 72,  (Pablo Segura) 72, Milton Blanco, Orlando Ramirez, Fabricio Codeceira (Rory Agu) 79, Amaury Nunes.