2to2vsOldSettler
Sorry: no photos! I pulled out my camera and realized that I'd left the battery in the charger.
I'll start off in a backwards sort of order, by talking about how the regular season turned out, with Old Settler being bumped off as the bottom team of 5. I don't know where the bulk of their losses came from (other than one forfeit) but perhaps the forfeit was a sign that they had trouble showing up on a regular basis.
Old Settler were edged out by the Young Guns in the playoff championship game last year — and I wouldn't say they've lost much of what they had last year... it's just such a very good and close league this year.
5 wins, 4 losses and 7 ties! In 16 games, we only lost one by more than one goal — the 5-2 Dirtybird loss.
30 goals for and only 24 against. And let's not forget our landmark wins against the Impact and the Young Guns!
Our acquisition of Ryan and DJ Long and Rosedale's Daniel Klop and Andrew Overbeek gave us a big punch on the front line. It's at least 20 goals from those 4 guys alone!
On the back line, speedy Steve Topping has been great at cleaning up any loose balls that got past the rest of us.
4 shut-outs, thanks to a wall of defence and back-checking midfielders — backed up by the very dependable (and quick-healing) Kyle Kjemhus.
Let's take all of our best efforts into the playoffs!
******
Game review:
We had two subs, after Andrew O. arrived. Old Settler had 4 or 5. Al was missing with a charlie horse, and I'd say we missed him. (How could we not?)
0-0 at the half, though both teams had chances to break through for a goal. DJ was working hard, but the breaks didn't come his way. Old Settler had some very speedy d-men, so they were hard to crack with straight speed bursts or long ball passes.
Early in the second half, Old Settler had a dangerous play in our box, which was bouncing all around... like in our 1-1 tie with them in January. Eventually, one shot bounced off my gut and out, with the shooter yelling for a hand ball.
Ryan broke his (4-game?) slump with a kicked-in shot, then a header to the far post, which seemed to take forever to go in.
There was a fairly good breeze and for some reason there were lots of spinny and curvy balls. Like last week, where a ball hit Al's arm in the box, Colin had the bad luck come his way. (Ryan recommends tucking the arms behind the back, but this was just bad luck.)
The shot was well done and beat Kyle to his left. (There must be some "head games" we could get into to throw off the shooter... without getting carded.) Ah.. here we go: http://sportsworld.savvy-cafe.com/soccer-tips-on-how-to-save-a-penalty-shot-2007-05-23/
Both teams traded opportunities — with Kyle making two beautiful sliding saves — but it wasn't until late in the game that Tommy got himself in close and someone fed him a pass and he knocked it in. Tricky bugger!
A win would have been sweet — but Kenroc got (I believe) their first-ever win over Young Guns, 2-1. A win would have left us a point behind Kenroc anyway.
No cards for either team, though some strong warnings from the ref.
****
And now, some words from Kyle (and me.)
Kyle: "We are a very good team. We have some talent and we've got a lot of heart. I feel like when we are on our game we are the team to beat. Not the Young Guns, Not Kenroc, and definitely not Chilliwack City.
I think that whoever is going to have to play us in the playoffs should really be scared of a team like ours. A team that when on our 'A' game, can't lose. However, it seems to me that the last couple of weeks we've been maybe a little bit overconfident. Yes, we have become a good team, but we still have to go out on that field, knowing that we've got to make things happen, and we have got to bust our asses for every inch.
We can't just rely on our talent to carry us through. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not satisfied with just being one of the teams in the playoffs. I want to win, and I know you guys want it just as badly as I do. What we need to do in our next game is assert ourselves right from the start, and leave everything we have on the field. Let's not give in one bit. I want us to be able to walk off at the end of the game next week, and be able to hold our heads high, knowing whether we've won or lost, that we gave it everything we had. We want the other team to know at the end of the game that they got out-worked, out-hustled and straight up out-played. We can do it boys, I've got a lot of faith in our team, but nobody's going to hand it to us, so let's go out there and take it!"
Barry: I thank Kyle for his motivational speech. What the City guys had told me (about our relentless defensive pressure) was lacking at times in the Old Settler game. It does take effort, awareness and communications to be right on everybody's tail when the other team has the ball — but it really takes the sting out of their offensive plans. If they've got one second — or no seconds — rather than 3- 5 seconds to make a play, the ball is often going to be coughed up. If we allow them to turn, have free headers, or be wide open, then we'll be on our heels. With our twice a week drop-in sessions, and our supply of young wheels, we should be equipped to make things tough for our next opponents.
'Get stuck in,' as one of the Old Settler guys was telling his team, after we went up 2-0. They did, and they caught up.
Let's go get 'em, whoever they are!
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Date(s): March 21, 2009. Album by Barry Stewart. Photos by Barry Stewart. 1 - 3 of 3 Total. 340 Visits. |
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