WOOHOO!
Matt scores a goal (the first time he's scored in about 11 months... HEY-OOOOO!) and Nick Nutter and Jen each got one to get to our final score of 3-1...
The game was fun, it was cold and dewey, which makes the ball do funny things and makes the players do even funnier things, like Chad wearing fourteen long-sleeved shirts. I myself had on three, but I figure since I'm the goalkeeper I could justify it, what with my lack of really moving around a lot and everything...
At any rate, the first half was bad - Jen was late so we had to start the game short, and even when she got there we still had to play down a man... Intrepid had some good offensive pressure in the first half, and I thought just for a second that I might get some decent work between the sticks...
Nope...
Their pressure was mostly for naught, sending long balls in and letting me collect them pretty easily in front of their players, or playing ball through to the wings that then rolled right to the box from their feet...
The green team did score first though - the only goal of the first half came as Kellie and another girl were battling for the ball at about 30 yards - Kellie got pushed off and the green girl got a step on her, then slotted a perfect ball to the green's streaking forward who had also gotten a step on Chad (sidenote: the is the first time I've seen this and chalk it up to a random act rather than any particular lack of skill or attention... I mean really, Chad's been so good to us on defense that just the law of large numbers says that it was going to happen eventually...)
So the green guy (sidenote: this guy had flat-out shoved Chad in trying to get to a ball earlier in the half, so I thought Chad would be on the radar gunning for this dude, and truth be told, if the guy had taken a touch on the ball instead of one-timing it, there most likely would have been some damage done...) recieved the perfect pass at around 15 yards, at which point he had a step on Chad, I recognized that and was coming off my line to charge him... He slotted a perfect shot to my left and I couldn't get to him fast enough to take away enough of the angle, and it went in...
No real fault here, just a general great pass and a really good shot... If he had taken a touch, not only would Chad have been on him, but that would have given me sufficient time to get to the ball before the shot and break the angle, but as it was it was a great shot and there's really nothing that I can be mad about... That was the only goal of the half...
Walking off during halftime, I had a feeling that we were going to win - I don't know if it's the fact that we've won or tied now 16 straight games, but our team has an air on invincibility... which is a good thing to have, as long as everyone still plays hard and tries to win versus believeing the fates will award us a win so they can lolligag around the field...
So far we've been playing to win, which I hope continues, although I did see some signs that we need to want it more... more on that later...
So the second half starts with Paul and Matt and Nutter up front, Paul having now returned from getting a yellow card in the first half after jawing with one of the green people and geting himself and the other dude booted...
Our first goal comes about ten minutes in... Matt makes a pure hussle play to pressure and then ultimately take the ball away from the lone green defender in front of their goal... Matt pressured him at around 18 yards on the right side of the goal, took the ball, took a touch toward goal and rifled a left-footed shot just past the keeper... later Matt would tell us that he had no idea where the ball was going to go because of the left-footedness of the shot... But it was his first goal in a while, and it was a straight hussle goal... Tied 1-1
Our second goal was a long time in the making - I think this is an appropriate time to talk about wanting it - Nick Nutter and Paul generally play up front the entire game - they've both got extraordinary talent when they want to use it - Nutter has the ability to dribble through a brick wall and has a pretty mighty boot, and can slot the ball fairly regularly where he wants it... Paul has got a great touch and a really strong shot and has some really remarkable speed... They've been playing together for a long time (along with Chad) and their skill level is so much higher than the vast majority of players in our league that they tend to make things more complicated than they otherwise should be...
Too cute is what we call it - they'll pass a thousand times within twelve yards of the goal without taking a shot- they'll heel pass and back pass whenever they can - they'll out-fancymove even themselves on occasion and they have a tendency to overthing when it comes to putting the ball in the goal... At one point it got so bad last night that I screamed from the goal "Will someone just put the ball in the goal already?"
At any rate, the first, second and third goals were not cute one... the second came from Paul and Nutter hussling, together, to the goal... Nutter slotted Paul on the left side a point-blank shot, which he took and the keeper made a good save on, but he parried the ball instead of coralling it, and Nutter took it one-touch into the goal... just really great soccer and really great positioning...
The third goal came about two minutes before the end of the game - Intrepid were in desperation mode and the keeper, having recieved the ball, decided to try to dribble the field in an attempt to gain an advantage. Nope... Jen stuffed him, took the ball at 25 yards and push-passed the ball into the open net... I know a lot of people who would have tried to do too much with an open netter: take an extra touch, put the ball somewhere specific, kick too hard - but Jen did a great job and just made sure the ball went over the goal line...
I should also mention that we didn't have any defensive pressure in the second half. I touched the ball a few times, but at no point were we in danger of being scored on - with Chad and Joe in the middle and Kellie and Crustie outside, I really feel pretty secure back there - Chad directs things and makes sure everyone is placed, Joe's skill has amazed us all, and the fact that he's the biggest guy to ever play in the Roseville Coed league doesn't hurt, Kellie is getting her touch back and will always be good for a shorts pull or two, and Crustie is a solid-skilled defender who shuts down whatever is coming from the left side...
And then there's me... who enjoy the fruits of thier labor, stands there and collect balls that come into the box... which is why I need three long-sleeved shirts to keep me warm...
No game next week as we celebrate Thanksgiving - check back for team news and all that - we'll see you on the pitch in two weeks!
