Finlay leads goal parade

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jan 9, 2012

[ADIDAS MLS COMBINE] If it was goals MLS coaches were looking for at the 2012 adidas MLS Player Combine in Lauderhill, Fla., they saw plenty of them as the first four matches produced 14 goals. Creighton's Ryan Finlay needed only 31 minutes to score a hat trick on Sunday, while two other established college strikers, Chandler Hoffman (UCLA) and Casey Townsend (Maryland), both had their second goals in two games, both winning efforts.

Game 1
adiPower 3 Prime 2
Chandler Hoffman broke a 2-2 tie in the 80th minute to earn adiPower the win in the opening game of the Combine. adiPower had twice come back from one goal down on goals by Maryland's Casey Townsend and Brazilian Yuri Goentzvaig, one of seven foreign imports brought in for MLS coaches to review. Notre Dame's Brendan King, son of longtime U.S. Soccer executive Tom King, and Paraguayan Aldo Paniagua scored for Prime.

Game 2
adiZero 0 adiPure 0.
Uruguay-born Enzo Martinez missed a late penalty that would have given adiZero the win. The North Carolina star, who recently signed a Generation adidas contract, was nonetheless one of the best players in the field.

Game 3
adiPower 2 adiZero 1.
Hoffman and Townsend both had their second goals of the combine to lead adiPower to its second win of the Combine. Evan James of NCAA Division runner-up Charlotte had the lone goal for adiZero.

Game 4
adiPure 4 Prime 2.
Ethan Finlay scored a hat trick in the first 31 minutes, and Englishman Like Holmes, who played his last year of college ball at Akron after starring in the NAIA, scored in the 17th minute to give adiPure a 4-0 lead at the half. Prime came back and reduced the deficit on goals by James Kiffe (UC Santa Barbara) and Canadian resident Babayele Sodade (UAB), a late addition to the Combine.