M-A title hopes still alive

The Bears got off to a quick start, scoring in the third minute. They took a 2-0 lead at halftime and went on to beat the Panthers 3-0, handing them their first loss in PAL Bay play.

“We tied (Burlingame) last game,” said M-A striker Nic Jandeleit, who set up the Bears’ first goal and scored their second.

“We wanted to show them who’s boss.”

Burlingame (9-1-3 PAL Bay, 30 points) was at less than 100 percent as the Panthers were missing their starting middle fullback, who had to sit out because of a red card in their last game. The Panthers had a couple of communication errors and M-A (8-2-3, 27) took advantage.

“We had to adjust our back line and we got punished early,” said Burlingame head coach Anthony Dimech. “You make mistakes, you get punished.”

Jandeleit started the game knowing it was a must-win for the Bears and he proved dangerous early on, none more so than in the third minute when his run through the Burlingame defense resulted in the game’s first goal. The play started nonchalantly enough as the M-A defense calmly switched the sides of the field before sending a long pass down the left flank. Jean Claverie flicked the ball into the middle of the field, where Jandeleit latched on to it and started making his run toward goal. He was a step from daylight and space to get a shot off, but was taken down.

The referee held his whistle to see how the play would develop and it certainly benefited the Bears. As the ball rolled free, M-A’s Tobias Jacobson ran on and blasted it past the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead just three minutes in.

“Our last few games, we wanted to come out strong and set the tone for the game,” Jandeleit said.

Like a flash knockdown in boxing, Burlingame was wobbled. M-A had a couple more dangerous crosses over the next few minutes, but came up empty. The Panthers eventually shook out the cobwebs and slowly started to take control of the game with a tight passing game.

While the Panthers were taking over the midfield, they struggled to penetrate the M-A defensive line and put any dangerous chances on frame.

“We played great team defense,” said M-A head coach Leo Krupnik. “This is something we’ve worked on all season. Less and less goals are being scored against us.”

As the game seemed to be turning in Burlingame’s favor, M-A put the Panthers in serious trouble as Jandeleit scored in the 22nd minute with what could be put up as goal of year. He checked into the middle of the field and received a pass from Axel Valle. Jandeleit then turned and split a pair of defenders. He angled in toward the top of the Burlingame penalty box, keeping the defense at arms length. Taking one last touch, he pushed the ball into space before lacing a laser of a shot that found the upper right corner of the net.

“I like to play with speed, not so much strength,” Jandeleit said, adding he would rather get past a defender than try to go through him.

“I had some space and I thought about where I wanted to put the shot.”

Jandeleit celebrated by racing toward midfield and launching into a side flip.

“I do it after every goal I score,” Jandeleit said. “Just call it the ‘German Flip.’”

That was the goal that seemed to take the wind out of the Panthers’ sails.

“For sure,” Dimech said. “We were moving the ball around and creating a few chances.”

In the second half, Burlingame controlled a bulk of the possession as M-A took a more defensive posture. Again, the Panthers did a good job knocking the ball around in the midfield and building their attack until they got to the Bears’ final line of defense, which consistently kept the ball out of danger.

Burlingame’s best chance at a goal came in the 69th minute when the Panthers received a free kick 24 yards out. Kai Galia bent a shot around the Bears’ defensive wall, but goalkeeper Charlie “Mike” McKay made a diving save to his left to push the ball out of bounds to maintain the shutout.

The Bears iced the game minutes later. McKay triggered the play with a long punt into the Burlingame end where Jacobson ended up with the ball on his foot and putting it away for his second goal of the game in the 82nd minute to keep the Bears’ title hopes alive.

“Toby hasn’t been playing a lot, so it was nice to see him score those goals,” Krupnik said. “I think we showed we’re the best team in the league. We fell asleep two games (the Bears’ only league losses of the season).”

Burlingame will still have final say over who is the best in the Bay is for 2018. Because the Panthers have played so well all season long, they need only a tie against a 4-7-2 South City squad Friday to clinch the division title. M-A, meanwhile, faces another must-win game when it takes on rival Woodside (2-5-6) and then hope the Warriors can somehow knock off the Panthers.

“M-A’s a good side. They played well,” Dimech said. “But we’ve worked all season to put us in a good spot. We can mess up, but we’re still there (fighting for the league crown).”