5-0 Win vs. LSI United

May 22nd, 2003

Brian: LSI United were 4-0 going into last night. That speaks well for us.

Missing a few key players - Susan, Arthur, Daniel (again) and missing Julie on the side too, we started out a bit slowly on offense, but our defense was sound.

Okay, right to the good stuff, in case you have limited time. A few weeks ago I neglected to mention Clark's fine play. Well Clark decided to come out to play tonight. Skipped the early sushi dinner and all. But no, I actually want you to read all of this, so I'm not going to give you the details yet.

Early, their star player, we'll call him Ray because that's what his name was, made a streaking move all the way up the field before Mike stopped him pretty cold.

Lots of nice passing on both our left and right sides - Amy/Heather on the right and Jeannette/Vasey on the left. Someone's good hustle got us an early corner kick. Sub Dave sent a nice corner kick that their goalie dropped nicely in front of me for another amazing 6-foot shot into an empty net.

Soon afterward, after a nice pass from Heather to me up the wing, Amy got open near the 18 for a pass. Amy sent a beautiful cross to Jeff DC, which Jeff put in for a 2-0 score. Switching roles, Jeff sent a nice cross to Amy, who headed the ball back to me. I got lucky as yet another shot off the post actually went in.

Just as a couple of their players, including their goalie were getting a bit whiny, their goalie drop-kicked the ball from the side, way outside his goal. A weak kick, which our illustrious coach decided to one-time on the fly from the centre circle, with one bounce into the empty goal. Mike has now scored twice from that distance in two years, making him BY FAR the leading candidate for the Ronaldinho award.

So, some nice goals early, but their defense were giving up a bit, making us look good. On the contrary, ours were solid. As is usual, silent but strong efforts from Bea, Ramsey, Mike and Jeff DC at the back. This is honestly why we can win games consistently. Their Ray-guy was one of the fastest players we've seen in a while, but our defense stopped him repeatedly.

Okay. In the second half, we switched up some positions, and enjoyed the lead a bit. Ray and their other fast player (#23) were pretty desperate to score, and had several opportunities. Clark made some nice saves.

On a ridiculous call, which Mike couldn't even remember, they were awarded a penalty kick. Clark later describes his trick. "I lined up (deliberately) about 8 inches to my left. That way the other side looks huge. Then as they are about to shoot, I move over to my right." Well it worked. A great save from Clark.

But there's more. Later, Ray took a beautiful shot toward the top left corner from just outside the 18. I mean a BEAUTIFUL shot. So nice that Ray stated, "That's a goal." Just before our Tenacious Texan got over and made a nice save. Several Brewhahans felt the need to comment to Ray, including Ramsey's "No, that's a keeper."

Jeff DC then made a nice streaking move where he took the ball pretty much all the way from centre to the goal line. He made a nice little cross up to Skipper (perhaps off the goalpost?) and the Skip headed it in.

Lots of other stuff. Although Ref#1 was pretty decent, Ref#2 was a little trigger happy. At one point he pulled out his yellow card when Mike was only 9 yards from a free kick. Mike got away with that crime. He then held his card in his had for about 10min. After each of the several fouls called on us, he would say, "That's your last chance." Finally, after an accidental trip, he got to give Dave the card. Kinda ridiculous. But that's just how that guy called the game. I think we held our cool pretty well, as way too many wimpy fouls were called.

Oh, and Jeannette was off-side. Yes. At least once! Good to have Jeannette back - and she almost scored on a nice shot that just went a bit high. Lots of other good chances shots and runs up front for Ramsey, Christian, Amy, Jeff, and Mike.

So we should finish with Clark. Another shutout - well done Clark, and the defense.

Mike: Okay, I just wanted to point out that even though I'm not sure exactly how, Clark's little mental trick on the penalty shot definitely has to do with math. Maybe there's something significant about moving just 8 inches. In any case I'm happy to report that Ray was completely reduced to being Clark's mental pawn. Like Jeannette would say, Clark won the "game within the game". I'd also like to point out that Christa is officially our number one fan, even though it snapped me a little that she and Brian were gabbing so much that they missed the entire penalty shot incident! For shame! And I'm also a little annoyed about the total lack of Blue Dog:-)

Scoring:

Brian from McMath
Jeff from Amy and Brian
Brian from Amy and Jeff
Mike unassisted
Skipper from Jeff and Brian