4-0 Win vs. The Sting

May 29th, 2003

Brian:
"The Sting" were winless up until now. The standings proved meaningful this time -- even before the game one of their players pleaded with Coach Heather to go easy on them.

In the first two minutes, a few of us tried hard to get Arthur to stop yelling at the ref over some not-so-horrific calls. Profanity on the first call of the game probably isn't the most diplomatic way to play, but I guess Arthur was trying in his own way to make up for Mike's absent leadership. To his credit, Arthur did decide to heed 12-1 vote for him to tone it down.

An early goal by Grant was called back because he slide tackled the goalie. Way to show him who's boss, Grant! It was pretty clear that it wouldn't be long until we scored again though. Sure enough, on a lead pass from Arthur, their goalie managed to completely miss the ball on an attempt to clear it just outside the 18. That left DiCarlo vs the empty eighteen. DiCarlo later states, "I wasn't going to screw that one up." He took sufficiently long to dribble it in that there were plenty of hopeless groans from the other team.

Solid ball movement on the right wing by the Bea-Heather-Amy trio. Probably the prettiest goal of the game came on a pass across the goal from Amy to Susan. Susan volleyed the ball by the keeper into the bottom right corner. Very nice. [incidentally, there was probably a second assist if someone wants to claim it...]

Shortly afterward, DiCarlo took an errant pass from them at center, and pretty much beat the whole team on a typical DiCarlo run and beat the goalie on a low shot. Nearer the end of the first half, a Grant-Brian-Grant give and go, with a very nice finish from Grant put us up 4-0.

Nice to be able to switch up positions a bit with the lead. I think everyone got to play around with the ball a bit more. Nice effort from our newest sub Alison. Susan and Amy were strong on the wings too. Fine play on the outside by the midfield too -- Bea got to like midfield, making nice moves up the side. Vasey got not one but two complements from the other team for a single "big kick." Susan, ah-hem, took a couple of off-sides calls for the absent Jeannette. Very sporting, Susan. The return of the Portuguese Phenom was also good to see -- Daniel was even convinced to play center-mid in the second half and had some opportunities. Switching for Bea, Heather was strong at right D.

Collisions were a-plenty this game. Amy managed to knock their goalie over early - Yeah! Vasey and Susan both almost knocked the ball away from him in the second half. Skipper did, in fact flatten one of their women. No call though, and a convincing apology from a guy who is too sensitive to have a picnic without daisies. DiCarlo had so many run-ins with their goalie that we simply lost count. Both with a similar build, neither seemed to "win" any collision.

On a nice cross from the wing, one of their women put up both hands to stop the ball, just inside their 18. Susan was convinced she should take the penalty, though reserved. Great effort Susan - it went wide by about 2 feet, but the bottom corner is where you want to go, or so I'm told!

Arthur decided to switch his talking to the other team. Their prime ball-hog, #99 took a dive after Arthur tackled him cleanly and yelled for the call. The Righteous Russian quickly responded with "F!@# You, that was a dive." #99 then responded, "F!@# You. Don't tell me to F-off. We both know it wasn't a foul - Can't a guy try to get a call when his team's down 4-0?" Interesting. But nice that Arthur has found a relatively harmless outlet for his rage!

What else? Several great opportunities in the second half. DiCarlo and Skipper both almost scored, but brushed the ball on headers. Skip needs to grow out his hair, while DiCarlo could grow an inch. (Okay, that was my translation of Vasey's comment!)

Clark made some good saves, though he denies it. Believe me, as sweeper I was well aware of some blunders that Clark had to make good stops on. Nice shutout Clark. Though we should point out that Skipper did play the first five minutes completely flawlessly. Sorry you didn't get to touch the ball, Skip.

On the sidelines, Julie managed to take over 250 photos - almost enough to make a movie of the game. We'll keep you posted.

Arthur did kinda steal the show again. He was sporting some black, checkered-texture umbro shorts. Looking very fine, and probably less noticeable to the refs. Those shorts should be the team standard.

Finally, we switched the post-game to Una Mas, which is just down from St Johns toward 101, on the same side of Lawrence. A bit cheaper and lighter food.

Scoring:

DiCarlo from Arthur and Brian
Susan from AmyT
DiCarlo (Starting to sound like Ronaldo, isn't it?)
Grant from Brian