Picture: Ron Sellers

Article: Nate Church

The Salt Lake Shred was plagued with mistakes in their Saturday night loss to the Oakland Spiders.

The Oakland Spiders could not be stopped throughout the match, going 17 for 19 in the red zone. On the flip side, the Shred especially struggled on the defensive line, finishing with a 33% conversion percentage. Turnovers also hurt Salt Lake, handing the disc over 20 times during the match.

After a quick start for both teams, the momentum shifted in the Spiders’ favor and stayed there. Four of its six first quarter points came off of Shred turnovers. Down 6-2, Salt Lake mounted an encouraging drive, ending with a Tony Mounga goal with 7 seconds left in the quarter. 

Feeding off the score at the end of first quarter, the Shred came out quickly to start the second quarter. Jordan Kerr connected with Ben Ashton to bring the Shred within two. But the spark that the Shred needed never came.

In back-to-back drives, Oakland had two more trips to the end zone. In the blink of an eye, the Shred was down by four. Despite its best efforts, the Shred couldn’t get into rhythm and the Spiders took advantage, stifling the Shred with impressive defense. By halftime the Spiders had run up the score, leading 14-5. 

Coming out of the half, the Shred saw a few glimmers of hope. Mounga put two on the board, with the help of Chad Yorgason and Matt Russnogle, who also added two scores. But ultimately the Spiders kept on rolling. 

Down by eight in the fourth quarter, the Shred started to see a momentum shift in its favor. The team’s leading scorer, Ben Ashton, found success downfield three times. Putting his body on the line, two of his three scores were diving catches.

It was too little, too late and even with a late surge, the Shred couldn’t dig their way out.

When the clock read zero it was the Oakland Spiders who came out on top, 25-15.