ESPN

In the first moves of the spring, FC Dallas has cut Walter Hines, Martin John and Joe Madigan form the preseason roster. All three were long shots and unlikely to make the roster anyway.

Hines did have two assists in Saturday's scrimmage but it wasn't enough to keep him around. Madigan scored the 5th goal in the same scrimmage.

In its first preseason scrimmage of the season, FC Dallas defeated Houston Baptist 5-1 today on the adidas Field at FC Dallas Stadium. Forward Scott Sealy had two goals and an assist for Dallas while Houston Baptist’s Kyle Herbison scored the lone goal for the Huskies in the 74^th minute.

FC Dallas opened the scoring in the 11^th minute when Walter Hines intercepted a pass out of the back by Houston Baptist goalkeeper Kevin Suarez. Following the turnover, Hines quickly beat his defender and picked out Sealy, who had checked to the ball in the center of the area. Sealy collected the pass before chipping a shot past Suarez for a 1-0 lead.

Dallas took a two-goal lead in the 29^th minute on a goal from right midfielder Andrew Wiedeman. The play began with high pressure from Sealy, who forced a turnover in Houston Baptist’s defensive third of the field. Sealy took the ball wide before delivering a long cross to Hines at the back post. The speedy St. John’s product had time to bring down the service before sending a line-drive cross to Wiedeman in the center of the six-yard box. Wiedeman calmly headed a shot past Suarez for a 2-0 lead.

FC Dallas controlled play for the first 20 minutes of the second half, but could not break down an organized Houston Baptist defense in the final third of the field. Houston Baptist had a good chance in the 66^th minute when midfielder Kris Tyrpak lofted a cross to the back post. Francisco Diaz was in good position to test FC Dallas goalkeeper Richard Sanchez, but defender Scott Gordon used his 6-4 frame to deny the chance, heading the ball away from danger to preserve the two-goal lead.

Houston Baptist did come within one goal of Dallas following the 74^th minute goal by Herbison. The play began with Tyrpak maneuvering through FC Dallas’ midfield and drawing a foul in the center of the pitch, roughly 30 yards from goal. Herbison stepped to the free kick, bending a line-drive shot over the wall and into the top right corner of the net for a 2-1 score line.

But FC Dallas retook control of the match by taking a 3-1 lead in the 79^th minute on a goal by Homegrown defender Moises Hernandez. Getting forward from his position at left back, Hernandez took the ball, side-stepped a pair of defenders and finished low to the back post.

The lead grew to three goals just four minutes later when high pressure from Homegrown forward Jonathan Top produced a turnover deep in Houston Baptist territory. Top collected the ball before chipping a pass to the center for Sealy, who waited on the ball to drop down to his feet before hammering a low shot by Suarez.

Dallas added a fifth goal in the 90^th minute when midfielder Kleynar Mena came free on the right flank and delivered a long cross to the top of the area to Joe Madigan. The Georgia Southern product timed his run well, hitting a strong volley to the back post with his first touch.



Scoring Summary:
FCD – Scott Sealy (Walter Hines) 11
FCD – Andrew Wiedeman (Walter Hines, Scott Sealy) 29
HB – Kyle Herbison 74
FCD – Moises Hernandez 79
FCD – Sealy (Jonathan Top) 83
FCD – Joe Madigan (Kleynar Mena) 90

Misconduct Summary:

NONE

Lineups:

FC Dallas – Chris Seitz (Richard Sanchez 45), Martin John (Moises Hernandez 45), Mark Barone, Christian Ibeagha (Matt Hedges 45), Scott Gordon, Walter Hines (Joe Madigan 45), Bobby Warshaw (Nicholas Cridani 67), Nicholas Cridani (Kleynar Mena 45), Bryan Leyva (Bruno Guarda 45), Andrew Wiedeman (Jonathan Top 45), Scott Sealy.

Houston Baptist - Kevin Suarez, Kyle Herbison, Charlie Gagnon, Walter Kromholz, John McDuffee, Mateo Jiminez, Kevin Alvarenga (Rod Osloub 58), Mark Gendi, Francisco Diaz, Kris Tyrpak, Leo Munoz.

Weather: Partly Cloudy, 41 degrees

I caught up with FC Dallas head coach after Thursday’s evening session at the FC Dallas Stadium complex and here’s what he had to say about a wide array of subjects.

Will there be a scrimmage on Saturday?

Hyndman: No, our numbers (won’t allow it). We’ve got five in the training room right now and those are five being [Daniel] Cruz, Daniel Hernandez, Ugo [Ihemelu], AJ [Andrew Jacobson] and David [Ferreira]. So that’s five and then we’ve got 8-v-8 on the field. So we’ve got 21 players and we don’t have enough for even a scrimmage. The 8-v-8 is not enough. We brought in Ian Kalis, a boy we drafted who came in today for the first day and then we have another boy that we drafted, Walter Hines out of St. John’s, he’s going through his physical and hopefully we’ll have him out here sometimes tomorrow.

So with Kalis and Hines already here, what is the status of your top pick in the Supplemental Draft, Alex Lee, the defender from Maryland?

Hyndman: Alex hurt himself, so he didn’t go to the combine. He hurt himself during the season, more of a quadriceps. He’s just making sure he can recover, so we’re hoping he’ll be here on Wednesday.

Right now you’ve got the likes of Cruz, Ferreira, Hernandez, Ihemelu and Jacobson on the sidelines. Who do you expect to return first and why?

Hyndman: I think probably the one that’s going to be the first one to go will be AJ. He had his surgery maybe two to three weeks before Daniel. I’m asking him how he’s doing and he’s saying man coach, I feel good. I wish I felt like this at the end of last year but he went four months with a meniscus tear. What it did, that I didn’t realize because I’m always saying play with the pain and all that, was that the muscle was shutting down. That was the thing that surprised me and that was my own fault. Same thing with Daniel, by the time we needed them the most, they were done. That’s where Daniel Cruz was expected to come through and that didn’t go the way we had hoped it would.

Which of the homegrown players are you expecting to break out in 2012?

Hyndman: Ruben Luna looks stronger, fitter and then Bryan Leyva looks more focused, stronger. Victor [Ulloa] looked much better. Victor won our two-mile run in something like 11:20. I think after one year with us, these guys are starting to add something more to their bodies. They’re maturing.

We hope that Ruben will [break out this year] because he plays at a position where we really need but it wouldn’t surprise me if it turns out to be Victor. He’s just a solid player. The thing that hurts Victor is he’s coming along extremely well but what kind of hurts Victor sometimes is he just makes bonehead decisions and you don’t want your center midfielder to be giving the ball away or trying to dribble out of trouble. But he’s hard, he’s aggressive, his body’s turning into a man. I think the green light might be good for him.

And how has 2012 top pick Matt Hedges looked so far?

Hyndman: Like I said to him today, every day you’re impressing us more. He’s a solid defender. He’s got the size. He reminds all of us a little bit of George John. George came in from the combine coming off a meniscus surgery so he wasn’t at his best. But it took George about a third of the season before we got him on the field. Hedges is a player that may be a step ahead but we don’t know if he’ll have that reach in his first year.