http://www.ebar.com/common/inc/staf.php?sec=sports&article=126by Roger Brigham
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Soccer
The SF Spikes won the Hotlanta soccer competition.
Photo: Courtesy SF Spikes
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The SF Spikes triumphed in a physical tune-up for the
International Gay and Lesbian Football Association World Cup to be held in Buenos
Aires September 23-29 by sweeping all five of their matches in the seven-team
Hotlanta Classic, part of Atlanta's multisport week.
Smoke was blowing in from the Georgia wildfires, but
organizers said the tournament ran smoothly and drew top-notch competition.
"Some of the most competitive teams in the country came
out to the tournament," Hotlanta Soccer President Bobby Flournoy said.
"We could not have done it without the support of a team of volunteers
that worked throughout the weekend."
The Spikes blew out the Florida 2 squad 6-0 in the second of
three Saturday matches but had to scratch out single-goal victories in all the
other tournament matches, beating archrival San Diego 2-1 in the opener,
clinching a semifinal berth with a 1-0 shutout of Florida 1, beating Atlanta 1
in the semifinals 1-0 and then shutting out San Diego 1-0 in the title match.
The team defense gave up just one goal the entire
tournament, an effort that coach Ed Center said had him on the brink of tears
in the final 10 minutes of the championship match.
"We were exhausted, battered, and run down,"
Center said, "but we kept hustling for every ball, refusing to give up,
continuing to fight in the last game down to the final minute. We worked with
each other to play some beautiful soccer.
"In that last 10 minutes, I could see all the sprints,
the conditioning runs, the plays that we practice ad nauseam
,
the work on quick passing and receiving and running
off the ball. I could see it all come together in a beautiful, simple and
sophisticated way. The gold medal was simply the icing on a wonderful
cake."