| Report: |
The Spikes played the fourteenth game on the Marin league schedule on Saturday July 19th at Redwood High School against West Tam United, a team that seems to have had some good games and some bad games this year. It seemed as if yesterday was one of their good games, as they were a solid and resilient opponent. The Spikes started out playing really well, moving off the ball, getting open for passes, and cutting apart the West Tam defense with ease and skill. West Tam could barely get the ball across mid field for the first 20 minutes, let alone get a shot off. The Spikes really had them on their heals, and it looked like it was going to be another decisive win for us. However, we were unable to put the ball in the net, and things started to change little by little as the half wore on. West Tam started to maintain possession a little longer, and sneak the ball out of their end once in a while and finally made a couple of runs down towards our goal. One of them ended with them earning a free kick just outside our box with about 10 minutes left in the half. Their player hit a really nice shot around the end of our wall and into the lower right corner of the goal. That was how the frustrating first half ended, with the Spikes down 1-0 after having dominated play.
In the second half, the Spikes maintained their advantage in possession, but less so than in the first half. However, we were able to create more chances on goal, attacking well, but still unable to find the back of the net. We pushed players forward as the end of the game neared, pressuring their defense and trying to find that one elusive hole that had escaped us until that point. West Tam held firm, and put together a quick counter attack with about 5 minutes left as the Spikes were mostly pressing forward. They finished off their attack to pull ahead 2-0, and that is how the game ended. Frustrating way to end the regular season, but if we had to have another troublesome game this year, it was best to get it out of the way now, rather than in the tournament, which start next week. We have three round robin games the next three weeks before we then, hopefully, defend our tournament championship. Let’s start another unbeaten streak next week. Go Spikes!
Players: Barry, Blake, Bobby, Chris J, Chris S, Ed, Izzy, Karl, Matt, Michael, Patrick M, Thang |