THE ARSENAL AND STORM UPSET THIS YEAR’S TWO DIVISION CHAMPIONS AND WILL MEET IN THE 2010 LINDO’S ISL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ON SATURDAY NIGHT.

Game One was close until the Arsenal blew it open in the third quarter. Cecoy Robinson notched his second hat trick of the playoffs and has now scored seven goals in two playoff games. Cornell Castle scored twice and Ralph Bean had  a goal and two assists for the Arsenal. The Kings actually got on the board and scored the only goal of the first quarter on a wicked Chris Anderson shot in the 14^th minute. The Arsenal would start to take control in the second quarter. Cecoy Robinson scored on a Ralph Bean helper in the second minute, then gave the Arsenal their first lead moments later on another assist from Bean. The Arsenal started to put some distance between themselves and the Kings in the third quarter. This time it was Bean in the 4^th minute. Fabian Frankson tallied in the 11^th minute, and Cornell Castle scored on a two on one set up by Pierre Smith to give Arsenal a 5-1 lead heading to the fourth. The Arsenal defense was the story getting five men behind the ball and frustrating the Kings offense all night long. Lamaul Crofton drew back a goal for the Kings in the first minute of the fourth, slipping behind the Arsenal defense to get a tap-in past Arsenal GK Nigel Burgess. The Arsenal would slam the door from there, and when Daz Simons and Castle scored second apart midway thru the quarter it was all but over. Simons and Robinson would score goals back to back in the 10^th minute to account for the final score. The win advances the Arsenal to the ISL Championship for the first time in the history of the franchise.

Game Two was an epic battle. The Knights put their undefeated season on the line against the Storm and early on it looked as though the Knights would make it 7-0. Keston Lewis scored two minutes in on an assist from Vincent Minors. Minors buried a cross field pass from Lozendro Symonds in the 8^th minute and it was 2-0 Knights. The main focus of the Knights defense was league leading scorer Domico Coddington. Coddington was being bottled up so someone else would have to step up for the Storm. Kwame Steede got Storm on the board in the 13^th minute, benefiting from a Domico Coddington pass on a restart and it was 2-1 after one. Dmitri Butterfield evened the score early in the second quarter with a blistering left footed drive from the midfield. Late in the second quarter Vincent Minors Jr. scored on a shootout and it looked like the Knights would head to the locker room with a one goal advantage. Kwame Steede had other ideas. He redirected a Grant McKellar corner kick into the back of the net in the last minute of play to tie the game at three. But just like all season the Knights responded. With just seconds left Lozendro Symonds hit a low liner from the midfield that beat Storm GK Daniel Adams and the Knights headed to halftime up 4-3. Coddington started to assert himself in the third quarter, and the aggressive play of the Knights defense was getting them in trouble, as they were shown multiple yellow cards. Knights defender Kaiya Darrell was shown a red card with 11 minutes left in the third and his night was over. Both teams had great chances to score, but it would be a miscue by Knights GK Che Clarke that would change the game. Clarke was stripped in his own end by Coddington, who then put the ball into an empty net to tie the game at four.  The Knights were shown another yellow to start the fourth and this time it led to a Storm Shootout that Coddington converted to give Storm their first lead of the game. Just seconds later the Knights responded when Robert Richardson crushed a right footed laser beam into the back of the net to tie the game at five. The tension built as the clock wound down. With under two minutes to play Coddington rifled a shot that was initially saved, but the rebound came right to Ottis Minors. Minors drilled the ball into the back of the net for the 6-5 lead. Seconds later the Storm were awarded another Shootout and Coddington finished it easily to give the Storm a 7-5 win and propel them to their third Championship game appearance in the last three years.

SCORING SUMMARIES:

ARSENAL VS. KINGS

1^ST QUARTER

KINGS               CHRIS ANDERSON              14^TH MINUTE   1-0 KINGS

2^ND QUARTER

ARSENAL         CECOY ROBINSON             2^ND MINUTE    1-1 TIE

ARSENAL         CECOY ROBINSON             5^TH MINUTE     2-1 ARS

3^RD QUARTER

ARSENAL         RALPH BEAN JR.                4^TH MINUTE     3-1 ARS

ARSENAL         FABIAN FRANKSON        11^TH MINUTE     4-1 ARS

ARSENAL         CORNELL CASTLE          14^TH MINUTE      5-1 ARS

4^TH QUARTER

KINGS               LAMAUL CROFTON         1^ST MINUTE       5-2 ARS

ARSENAL         DAZ SIMONS                     8^TH MINUTE      6-2 ARS

ARSENAL         CORNELL CASTLE           8^TH MINUTE     7-2 ARS

ARSENAL         DAZ SIMONS                    10^TH MINUTE    8-2 ARS

ARSENAL       CECOY ROBINSON         10^TH MINUTE     9-2 ARS

KNIGHTS VS. STORM

1^ST QUARTER

KNIGHTS       KESTON LEWIS                 2^ND MINUTE     1-0 KNI

KNIGHTS       VINCENT MINORS JR.      8^TH MINUTE     2-0 KNI

STORM           KWAME STEEDE            13^TH MINUTE      2-1 KNI

2^ND QUARTER

STORM           DMITRI BUTTERFIELD   3^RD MINUTE     2-2 TIE

KNIGHTS       VINCENT MINORS JR.   12^TH MINUTE     3-2 KNI

STORM           KWAME STEEDE           14^TH MINUTE     3-3 TIE

KNIGHTS       LOZENDRO SYMONDS 14^TH MINUTE     4-3 KNI

3^RD QUARTER

STORM          DOMICO CODDINGTON 13^TH MINUTE    4-4 TIE

4^TH QUARTER

STORM          DOMICO CODDINGTON 2^ND MINUTE      5-4 STORM

KNIGHTS      ROBERT RICHARDSON  3^RD MINUTE      5-5 TIE

STORM          OTTIS MINORS               13^TH MINUTE     6-5 STORM

STORM          DOMICO CODDINGTON 13^TH MINUTE    7-5 STORM

ROSTERS:

ARSENAL            KINGS                   KNIGHTS            STORM

1 JASON SMITH              1 TROY HALL                     1 CHE CLARKE                         1 JASON SIMONS

1 NIGEL BURGESS         2 LAMAUL CROFTON       2 ANDRE RUSSELL                  2 DMITRI BUTTERFIELD

5 IJAHMON MALLORY 4 VERNON PERINCHIEF   3 ROBERT RICHARDSON       5 JAMES CURRIE

6 DAZ SIMONS                6 KIWAUN FRANKS          4 KESTON LEWIS                     9 GRANT MCKELLAR

8 MICHAEL PARSONS   8 KORVON TUCKER         5 SIMON GREGORY                10 DOMICO CODDINGTON

9 PIERRE SMITH             9 AQUINO GRANT             6 LOZENDRO SYMONDS       11 CHRIS CAISEY

10 CECOY ROBINSON  10 SHAWN FUBLER            8 IAN COKE                              14 OTTIS MINORS

11 FABIAN FRANKSON 12 CUDJOE MATTHEWS   9 VINCENT MINORS JR.         15 KEVIN LAMBE

13 HOPDE BURROWS    13 EUENE CALDER           11 JAMIE SMITH                      16 COREY DOWLING

15 CORNELL CASTLE    15 SHAKIR SMITH            13 RYAN PURNELL                  17 KWAME STEEDE

16 GINIKO BUTTERFIELD 16 CHRIS ANDERSON  14 COOLIDGE DURHAM        31 DANIEL ADAMS

17 RALPH BEAN JR.       17 CONNEKO TROTT        17 KAIYA DARRELL