EMIL FURCHT SCORES ON HIS DEBUT AS OM DEFEATS TEAM XCEL

OM 1, XCEL 0

Pierre d'Estaing, Sports writer

West Jordan, UT (May 10) - Emil Furcht scored a cracking goal in the 30th minute, barely seconds after coming in the game and Olympique Montreux beat Team Xcel 1-0 Wednesday night.

It was a good match as both teams displayed skills and speed with not one actually dominating the other. In fact, Team Xcel threatened OM often in the first 10 minutes, while forward Mike Polich had the Olympians' best scoring chances early on, coming close twice on powerful headers. Also, Jeremy Jones hit the post on a beautifully taken free kick in the 20th minute.

With the two best goalkeepers in the league, OM's Aaron Bruderer and Xcel's Chad Sackett, facing two high powered offenses, both men were called upon to make great saves throughout the match to keep their teams in the game. Keeper Bruderer earned his fourth shutout in four starts.

Although the teams offered a good display of sportsmanship and high level soccer, it was unfortunate that the lead referee chose to make himself the center of attention by making incredible calls and displaying poor judgment similar to the decision that had Real Salt Lake's Jason Kreis ejected in the game against the Los Angeles Galaxy a fortnight ago.

"The level of skills of the players greatly outmatch the potential of many refs, and week in and week out, some defects creep into games. That's part and parcel of the competition here," said Bel-Ami de Montreux, OM's manager, after the game. "Generally, however, the officiating is good and getting better as older players are getting into officiating."