New additions not enough as Rampage fall, 6-5

CEDAR RAPIDS – Valuable veteran additions to the Cedar Rapids Rampage were not enough to get the franchise its first win.

Elmo Neto scored three third-quarter goals and goalkeeper Joey Kapinos secured 17 saves, but the Flint, Mich.-based Waza Flo scored two goals in the final three-plus minutes and edged the Rampage, 6-5, before 2,721 fans Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'Today was a tough one,” Kapinos said. 'We didn't finish our breakaways, our shootouts. Next game we have to be better.”

Kapinos and his twin brother (defender Jayme Kapinos) were both signed by the club three days before last week's season opener at Missouri (a 9-8 overtime loss). The twins were originally signed by another Major Arena Soccer League expansion team in Hartford, Conn., but legal revelations concerning the club's owner forced it to cease operations before ever playing a game.

Midfielder Robert Acosta, forward Semir Mesanovic and Neto were also added to the roster since the Oct. 30 home preseason game.

The Waza Flo (2-1) – which traveled through the night following a Saturday night game at Milwaukee – put the Rampage in an early hole with three first-quarter goals, then a fourth midway through the second period for a 4-0 advantage.

'We came out lacking,” Kapinos said. 'We weren't as intense as we were against Missouri. … We just came out lacking and kind of sleepy. (We) kind of didn't have an urgency to defend.”

Cedar Rapids (0-2) got on the scoreboard less than three minutes before halftime when defender Patrick Kelly scored on a power play off an assist from Hewerton Moreira.

In the third quarter, Neto put on a show. The 32-year-old Brazilian native – who scored 26 goals last season for the Syracuse Silver Knights – cut the deficit in half at 4-2 when he fielded a nifty pass off the wall from former Cedar Rapids Xavier player Charlie Bales for an easy goal. Neto tied the game at 4-4 with two more scores for a third-quarter hat trick.

'He's a game changer,” Rampage Coach Jeff Kraft said. 'And that's the kind of player I need on this team. Our offense was centered around him.”

The rally coincided with Kapinos bottling up the Waza Flo attack for more than two full quarters. Cedar Rapids claimed its first lead at 5-4 on an Alex Megson goal less than a minute into the final period.

'I just zoned in,” Kapinos said. 'I knew for us to get back in the game I would have to make some saves, and that's what I'm here for – to make big saves. It starts with the back and then it gains confidence throughout the entire team. We started to put goals in the back of the net and that's what we want.”

Megson and Moreira each finished with a pair of assists. A charging penalty on Kelly with less than four minutes to go gave the Waza Flo - a Japanese phrase meaning 'good technique” - a power-play opportunity, which they cashed in when a Kapinos save was rebounded by Waza Flo forward Thiago Goncalves for the tying goal with 3:15 left in regulation.

'It's the little things,” Kraft said. 'We can't give them (referees) excuses to call anything. A guy goes out and he fouls, a power play and they finish. … It's frustrating across the board. We've just got to move on.”

With the game tied at 5-5 and 57.2 seconds left in regulation, play was stopped for over 15 minutes after Goncalves - who led the Waza Flo with two goals - suffered an injury to his tailbone and had to be taken from the field on a stretcher. When play resumed, Waza Flo forward Leo de Olivieira caught the Rampage in the middle of a defensive substitution with the winning goal with 12 seconds left.

'I think we played great the second half,” Neto said. 'But I think we were sleeping the last 20 seconds. … This game is indoor. This is a game you can't be sleeping. You need to stay 100 percent the first (quarter), second, to the last second. You need to stay up and try to get the game.”

Many MASL arenas only employ one game ball for use. At the U.S. Cellular Center, up to six balls are stationed throughout the outside of the playing field so that balls that careen out of bounds can be quickly replaced. The hasty game-ball replacement gave the Waza Flo the time to catch the Rampage 'sleeping.”

'That last goal is a tough one to swallow,” Kapinos said. 'Because, yeah, they're allowed to play quick, they're allowed to play fast but in no other arena are they allowed to have six balls in play.”

This is the second difficult loss in two games for Cedar Rapids. The opener last week at Missouri was shrouded in controversy after the referee crew was reprimanded by the MASL for setting the overtime clock at 15 minutes instead of 10. Missouri scored the game-winner 11:37 into overtime. The contest should have moved to a penalty-kick shootout after 10 scoreless minutes.

The Rampage visit the Milwaukee Wave (1-1) this Saturday before returning to the U.S. Cellular Center Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. against the Missouri Comets.

'I'm not in this to be competitive,” Kraft said. 'I know everybody's like, ‘Well, this is a first-year team.' I'm in it to win it. So this is frustrating to me. But we've just got to battle hard this week.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com