Crushers vs Colts Recap: El Sirty Propels Nashville to a Stunning Comeback
Another fantastic NSL match in the books. We got our first shootout of the season, and Nashville came out on top. In a way, the shootout was a perfect microcosm of the match as a whole. Louisville took an early 2-0 lead, and the match looked all but finished. But, Nashville refused to go away. A couple let balls dragged out the shootout, and the score remained 2-0. Then, seemingly in an instant, Nashville scored three unanswered points – snatching a 3-2 shootout victory from the jaws of defeat.
We’ll get to the shootout in a moment. Going back to the first period, the Colts dominated. The 24-20 score doesn’t look like the word dominating should apply, but the Colts controlled the period the whole time. Leonel Cardenas scored a whopping 12 points in the first 8 minutes of the period such that Perry Malik and Andrew Douglas could simply defend their sizable lead. The efforts of Ronald Palomino brought Nashville back within striking distance, as the closing matchup of the period was Moustafa El Sirty against quasi-retired Andrew Douglas. Nashville probably liked their chances to complete a comeback here, but give credit to Andrew Douglas. Douglas defended brilliantly, and he forced El Sirty to play aggressively and hit the tin way more than he’d like. Louisville held on and won Period 1.
Period 2 was pretty similar. The dominant play of Leonel Cardenas (10 points in 6.5 minutes) propelled Louisville to a comfortable Period 2 victory. Perry Malik struggled in this period, but he defended El Sirty’s power play well enough, only allowing three points. Louisville also got replacement-level play from Andrew Douglas, who had to play 6 minutes in Period 2 and delivered to the tune of 6 points scored. Everything looked fairly comfortable for Louisville, and Nashville didn’t have answers.
The Moustafa El Sirty Show
Then came the third period, aka the Moustafa El Sirty show. El Sirty scored 30 points on his own in period 3, almost matching the Louisville team total of 31. Speaking frankly, El Sirty’s performance was disappointing in the first two periods. His attacking play mostly yielded errors and free points for Louisville. The commentary called him out as the worst performer of the first two periods, and it’s hard to argue against that. El Sirty completely flipped the script.
Interestingly, El Sirty only played 5 minutes and 4.75 minutes in periods 1 and 2 respectively. I wonder if that had an impact on his performance. El Sirty’s role was clearly to be an attacking threat in this match, but he didn’t have much runway to build a rhythm and gain confidence to play those attacking shots effectively. When he was afforded that runway, El Sirty’s hitting and movement exuded confidence. He asserted his will on the match and left the Colts stunned. Thanks to a whopping 1.5 points per minute over a large 20 minute sample in period three, ElSirty ended up leading the match in points scored per minute (1.38). Quite the turnaround! Cardenas was a close second at 1.36 points per minute. He was consistently productive throughout the match and had a fantastic NSL debut, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a dominant El Sirty performance in the third period.
The Shootout
I don’t think the Colts could quite believe they were facing a shootout after looking like the better team for so much of the match. That’s the beauty of the NSL for you! Every point matters, and every minute matters. The shootout began with Leonel Cardenas and Perry Malik taking care of business and giving the Colts a 2-0 lead in the shootout. It looked as if Louisville was in the clear. The third period was a scare, but nothing to worry about now, right?
Wrong.
Nashville refused to quit, and they took it one point at a time. First, Jeremias Azana forced an error from Andrew Douglas. 1-2. Next, Moustafa El Sirty barely hit a winner above the tin against Leonel Cardenas. 2-2. Then, to close it out, who else but three-year Nashville Crusher Ronald Palomino completed the improbable comeback on Perry Malik. 3-2. Game over.
We’ve seen so many examples of the beauty and entertainment the NSL format provides, and this is no different. Just an incredible win from the Nashville Crushers, who proved you’re not out of the match until the clock strikes 00:00.
