Blue defeated by Navy, 2-1

What a hot, gnarly day. What a crappy feeling.

The heat was oppressive on Sunday, and both teams seemed bothered by it. Our opponents were apparently bothered less and picked up a crucial win. The loss leaves the good guys with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. After we lost our first game in heartbreaking fashion, we came back to win two in a row. Now is the time to turn it around and do it again. Special thanks to all players, but especially to those who played even though they were not feeling well. Thanks for all of your efforts.

Quick recap:
Blue struck first about 10 minutes into the game. After being denied by the post, our substitute stopper fired in a pretty shot from outside the box. Our regular stopper was sidelined with a leg cramp early in the game. On a side note, my thermometer at home registered 95 F, so it is very little surprise that this game which kicked off at 12:45 PM seemed to wear everyone down.

Overall the first half was fairly evenly played. If memory serves me correctly the other team probably had more possession in our end overall. They also had a shot hit the crossbar post junction, so I guess things evened out there. Halftime score, 1-0.

The second half started off poorly for us. About 4 minutes into the half, an opposing striker broke free on the left side of the penalty area. I tried to cut down the angle and the ball was played in front of the goal. It ended up near one of their players right in front of the net that I thought must have been offside, but apparently was not. The ball was tantalizingly on the goal line for a split second, but I couldn't get to it in time.

With about 10 minutes to go in the half, one of their strikers broke free. One of our defenders and I tried to tackle him American football-style, but the dude outweighed us by quite a bit and was able to muscle through our feeble attempts to bring him down. He put the ball in the net for the winning margin.

Overall, our opponent seemed to have the better run of play in the second half. We created a few really good scoring opportunities, but their keeper played a very strong second half. I was quite impressed with his play. I hope to bounce back and do you all proud next week.

In an unrelated positive note, I watched "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" Saturday night. It was one of the funniest movies I have seen since "Old School". If you are looking for a few good cheap laughs, rent it.