PHOENIX (Sunday, July 26, 1998) -- John Carroll scored two goals and Brian Mullan added three in the second half as the Colorado Rush Warriors of Littleton put a 5-1 hurt on the Columbia (Md.) Darby in the United States Youth Soccer National Championships men’s under-20 final this morning at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex.

In the 22d minute, twin brother Jeff Carroll sent a corner kick to unmarked John, who perfectly tucked a 12-yard diving header past a helpless goalkeeper Bruce Engle. Six minutes later, John Carroll took a touch from Wes Hart and zig-zagged horizontally into the top left of the penalty area before drilling a low 15-yarder into the near corner.

"I played awful up until then," John Carroll said. "My touch was just paid. I had two good touches in the first half, so I guess I did my job, but I couldn’t have done without the rest of these guys. They were all out there busting their butts for the entire game. We’ve been working for this for I don’t know how long."

Mullan’s hat trick was wrapped around a goal by Keith Donohue which narrowed the deficit to 4-1 with 11 minutes left.

The Darby was hampered by the loss of central defender Michael Green, who was suspended after receiving a highly-questionable red card in a 4-3 semifinal victory over Club Ohio Dynamo. Green, at 6-foot-4 ,was also a threat to score on corner kicks.

Missing Green "shouldn't have mattered that much. We should have been able to deal with it," said Chad Evans, who took over in the central defense. "We should have been able to organize it and we didn't. Guys were running all over the place. Once you go down two goals in a national final, (the opponent) will find ways to win. That's all it's about and they did it, so all the credit to them."

Gary Davidson is managing editor of SoccerTimes and can be e-mailed at info@soccertimes.com.