Fall Soccer Game 3

Game 3 took place today under the clouds and quite pleasant temperature of a nice Autumn day in Washington, DC. Team Mocha took the field against a nemesis team from last season, team Green. The Green team was only a nemesis in that they beat us two times including the heartbreaking 4-3 loss in the playoffs, which still haunts me to this day.

Today, with Bill out of town, Peter and I agreed to share the goalkeeping duties. I started the game between the pipes determined to not have a repeat of the episode from game 1 where I bobbled the early ball and gave up a cheap goal. Team Green has a player named Bruce who seems to always be looking for trouble. He is similar in temperament to Eric, the prick bastard from the gray team of last season, but not quite as bad. Eric is dangerous to others, where Bruce is mostly just dangerous to himself.

Team Mocha started the match with 12 players available and only one substitute. Team Green had 4 substitutes and lots of good ones at that. I have noticed that in these situations in the past, our team has responded with very good play. It is like we know we can't play too much long ball, so we concentrate on passing the ball. Since soccer is a game of possession and passing, this is usually a good thing.

The first half seemed to be fairly even. Despite having a number of good strikers, team Green failed to get any quality shots due to great defensive play from Brian Siever, Brian Sklar, Ken, Gail, Greg and Brian Trackman. This keeper was truly blessed to have such an amazing effort in front of him. We took a number of long-range shots that didn't really threaten their keeper, but it did give us a chance to rest while they chased the ball down into the trees behind the goal. Halftime score: 0-0.

The second half was absolutely nuts. Less than 10 minutes into the half, team Green took the lead on a ball that skidded weirdly under my foot through the midfield and then found one of their strikers. He beat the defense and put in a nice low shot to the near post.

Down a goal, Mocha put the offensive pedal to the metal. We started sending more folks forward and were threatening their goal. After many missed opportunities (many by yours truly), Mocha evened the match with 15 minutes to play on a goal by Brian Sklar that deflected a little off the defender's foot and found the inside of the left post.

The action went back and forth until one of our players was red-carded with about 10 minutes to play on what the ref deemed to be a retaliatory kick to a green player. Like most of these situations, the ref neglected to call the shirt pulling the preceded the incident. Now we were a player down and holding on for dear life. With about 2 minutes to go, team Green took the lead again on a ball that seem to hang around our goal and finally find a Green striker's boot.

With little to lose, Mocha attacked with all that we had. We won a corner kick and I had an excellent chance to tie the match after heading a perfectly placed kick from Ken on goal. Unfortunately, the opposing players blocked it and my rebound kick was deflected out of bounds for another corner. Seconds later and with seconds to play, Brian Siever tied the match on a brilliant screaming shot from the top of the box to the lower left part of the goal, just inside the post. Final Score: Mocha 2 - Green 2.

I cannot remember the last time we victimized a team like that. It always seams like we are the team that has such bad luck, but today our fortunes were different. A great match by everyone to come up with a well-deserved point.

I don't normally do this, but today's match will be an exception. I feel the need to specifically note part of the great contribution everyone played in this match.

Marie had some great feeds to the wings and some good shots on goal. Lisa played the right half with poise and made a lot of good stops and feeds. Neil had some good shots, a ton of excellent feeds and should have had more than one assist. In addition to his stellar defensive stops, Brian Trackman had a great assist on the final goal and came close to scoring himself. Greg played his normal all-around excellent game and did a great job not letting Bruce get under his skin. Angel played tough on the right side and disrupted a number of plays. Peter played a great first half in the midfield and distributed well. He was peppered with tons of shots in the second half and kept us in the game with many nice saves. Ken played a stalwart game of defense and had some great corner kicks that should have been converted to goals. Gail was solid as ever (and as usual) and thwarted many attacks on defense. Brian Siever saved our hides on defense and then saved our hides on offense and played a really top-notch game. Our captain, Brian Sklar not only got us on the scoreboard, but played a whale of a game at stopper. He wasn't feeling so well after the game, so everyone wish him good health!

What a good way to start the week!