| Report: |
In the beginning, there were 13. Barry, Bob, Chris J, Greg, Izzy, Kevin, Leo, Matt, Michael, Patrick M, Ryo, Scott and Thang arrived for Marin League Game #4 against an opponent we had never played before from a small island, Alameda United.
In the end, bloodied, sore, kicked and tweaked but not bowed, 10 valiant Spikes remained standing, attempting to fend off gale force winds and an opponent with one extra player to pull off a hard fought victory. Down to the very last few minutes, it looked like we would be successful in pulling off a 1-0 win, until the aged Alamedans were able to pop a lucky shot into the net as time expired for a 1-1 tie.
This is our story.
High winds played a major factor in Game #4. The Spikes had mother nature to our backs in the first half, and were successful in keeping the other team on their heels for most of the first half. Within the first 10 minutes, Izzy's well placed corner kick was mishandled by their goalie for a 1-0 lead for the Spikes. It would be our only goal despite many exciting chances. The midfield and offense swarmed the Alameda defense all half long and created some nice combinations, including an impressive triple-salchow from speedster Chris Jansen.
Then, in an unfortunate intra-team collision, Thang's ankle area got an unintentional fierce beating by a fellow Spike, and he had to be helped off the field. Shortly therefater, Ryo suffered an ankle tweak himself, leaving us without subs for the remainder of the game. The level of effort exhibited by our remaining warriors was impressive.
After an unbelievably rousing pep talk by Co-Coaches Patrick and Bob at the half which ended in a standing ovation, the Spikes defense would be tested throughout the second half. Commander-Sweeper Michael Pfyl handled the pressure with determination and precision as did the rest of his fellow combatants, especially Goal-Trapper- Keeper Scott. This half was a bit more lopsided toward our opponents, but fortunately they weren't the greatest finishers. Perhaps the fact that most of them were Barry's age or older played a factor.
Izzy seemed to get the brunt of most of their foul play, routinely kicked, tripped and pushed was he. In one unfortunate incident, he got hit in the face and began to bleed profusely from the nose. Fortunately, he's still adorable and no (non-elective) cosmetic surgery will be needed.
Playing one man down for the rest of the second half didn't deter us, including those hearty souls like Barry and Matt who were nursing their own injuries and would not have otherwise wanted to play the whole game. Kudos to you, and to everyone who stayed in, played their hearts out, and incidentally are getting into fantastic shape. With about 10 minutes left, Chris almost put the game away with one of his trademark breakaways and low corner shots. This one hit the goal post and was cleared, but it could just as easily have been 2-0 Spikes as a 1-1 tie.
You already know what happened with 2 minutes left, so let me just say we played a lot of smart and aggressive soccer today and everyone deserves a ton of credit for an awesome game.
See y'all.....lots of y'all.....next Saturday!
Bob
P.S. Because this is my first written game recap in 12 years and my soccer memory is horrible, I reserve the right to have been totally inaccurate in anything I've said. Thx!
|