Fall Soccer Game 1

F-ing website lost my first write up of this game. So I will attempt to recreate the literary masterpiece that it was.

I have been quite delinquent in writing up the games for my soccer team this season but I think I will be able to do a better job going forward. Demands on my time (work, job hunting, naps, and uber naps) have kept me from posting more often. Since countless 1's of people visit this forum every few months and since it is a place for current events knowledge in and around my house, I will endeavor to improve my performance.

This season our team will be experimenting with a goal keeper by committee approach. Bill, Peter and me will share the duties equally. Basically, two of the three keepers will split each game. You can kind of think of it like a soccer version of Rochambeau. You may ask yourself, "How do I work this?" Ooops. That was the Talking Heads. You may ask yourself, "What does this have to do with the outcome of game one?" Absolutely nothing! Since this is my blog, I get to be self centered about this and explain how the whole thing affects me!

Onto the game one highlights:

This season, our team of indeterminate color (TOIC A) played another team of indeterminate color (TOIC B). At this point, you may ask yourself, why the indeterminate colors? Well, the league in its infinite wisdom and with much prior knowledge of the exact start date of the season, did not order jerseys for the league on time. So we showed up with light and dark shirts and chose to play light based on the shirts the other team brought.

Historically, TOIC B has given our team great problem when we play. I cannot remember ever beating them. They have a lot of younger and very skilled players that dribble well, pass well, and defend well. They also seem to be pretty fast. Not a good combination for a team like ours.

As mentioned above, I started the game in goal and with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, an offseason of no practice and definitely no thought of playing keeper, does not leave on with the sharpest skills. About 2 minutes into the game, the first ball I handled I bobbled and it fell right onto the feet of a TOIC B striker who touched the ball right into the net for an early lead. Luckily, that would be my game one blunder of the day.

TOIC A evened the match a few minutes later when Bill volleyed a cross from the left side right into the left side of the net. The rest of the half featured good chances from both teams. I was forced to make a couple of saves and to charge out of the box to break up some attacks. One ball did get past me, but Jeff scrambled back to make and excellent save and kick the ball off the goal line. Halftime score: 1-1.

The second half was owned by TOIC B. The got back to their ball control ways and kept peppering our goal with shots. Bill made a ton of great saves but was beaten by two excellent shots from TOIC B strikers. The first was a good shot ripped to the near post from inside the penalty area about 20 minutes into the second half. The TOIC B striker had received the ball outside of the penalty area and beaten me to the outside. He then made a bee-line for the goal and hit a pretty shot just past Bill's outstretched hand.

The second goal was a looping shot to the upper left hand corner that looked pretty unstoppable to me. Our team kept fighting and tried very hard, but it was just not meant to be on this day. Final score: TOIC B 3 - TOIC A 1.

I was impressed by our overall effort and thought everybody did a good job trying to get back into game shape and get back into the mental aspect of playing. I feel good about this season, which will likely be my last for a while. But more on that in later posts....