Last time we played these guys, we had tremendous good luck — and they had none. This time, the soccer gods evened the score... literally.

They started with 9 players and one arrived late, for 10. At the toss, I chose wind at our backs, though we did have the sun in our eyes. It was about a 25-30 km/h breeze — and cold — so it was a good advantage for us.

We had a bunch of chances in the first half but the only one we made good on was when Andrew took the ball in the box and was knocked down.

James took the PK and got it.

Their keeper was sharp and made a great deflection save off Andrew's hard crossing shot. He also stopped James from point blank, on the line.

Looking at how LC played the wind in the second half, we would have done well by firing longer shots, as the wind really was making the ball do funny things. LC was good at sealing up our chances from inside the box.

They also had a few high drifters at our net. One was going off-target, then veered fairly close. The other landed on the crossbar, then went to touch.
1-0 for us at the half.

A bit of a foul-up at the second half kick-off put the ball on the foot of their striker, who cracked it from about 35 yards out. With the turbo-effect of the wind, it fooled Kyle, though he got the bead on similar shots later in the half. Daniel K. also stopped one on the line, late in the half.

A few minutes later, one of their guys hit James late and hard and drew a red card. I think they got 3 yellows as well, and we got 2... from James on a 50-50 collision with the keeper out of the box —  and from Daniel Klop, for getting knocked down and letting a player step on him. (Their #3 got a yellow as well.)

Playing into the wind was tough, but we got some chances. LC deployed their limited manpower in the best way they could and we didn't use our 2-man advantage very well.

Al drove back from Squamish, to coach from the sidelines. Half way through the second half, he couldn't resist the urge to play. He made a few good runs but then blew his upper leg injury again. (No mercy from Momma when he gets home!)