The game, didn’t even start before the drama began. As Mooch left home he received a frantic call
from Peter claiming the game wasn’t at Bryant but was in fact to be played at
Arrowhead Park, 45 minutes from Bryant and in the opposite direction of most players
travel. Since Arrowhead was the home
field for Springfield the claim had a ring of truth. Mooch spun his car around and went home to
check it out, feeling, as a new manager,
it was certainly possible for him to have made a rookie error. The result, of course, would be disastrous
for the evening's match and would probably force a forfeit. Since Mooch has the game information well
organized and accessible on-line at one’s fingertips he quickly deduced Peter
was reading from the wrong newspaper.
Mooch called the Sringfield 74 manager Rob, quickly and confirmed the
game was still on at the Orangemen field in Alexandria then sped away towards
the match, uttering this phrase to his daughter on the way out the door, “I
must hurry and catch up with the others, for I am their leader”. He also told Rob at least one of his players
was at Arrowhead and he would most likely not be making it to Bryant. That Springfield player, was of course, their
starting goal-keeper whose absence would later be felt on the pitch.
As both teams assembled at Bryant the Ref called in the
managers for the coin toss at the center circle at least 10 minutes before game
time. The Ref said, “Now that I have
your attention” he went over the rules for the night's match. He even brought line flags and asked if
anyone had players so inclined, they could run the sidelines. He seemed a very professional, no funny
business ref, but very soft spoken. He told us he would allow us to play and
wouldn’t be making many big calls.
At kick-off, the Orangemen had what can only be referred to
as a big defensive side. We had, Jon,
Doug, Sam, Karl, Ben, and miracle of miracles, Phil even ventured out to join
us. Whereas we lost the young Mikey to
college for the rest of the year, suitable replacements stepped up. And to spoil some later drama, Luke showed up
at half-time to bring more defensive players than we have fielded in a lifetime
of Orangmen soccer. Only EJ was lacking
from our defensive line-up.
Throughout the first half the play rallied back and
forth. But mostly back. Springfield moved the ball well and drove us
back on our heels. But with the strong
defense we fielded, with so much speed coming from all sides, and Gene-O’s sure
hands, we easily stayed in the match. We
had to find a way forward.
Peter entered the match up front after 15 minutes and provided some of
our first breaks forward only to be let down by a few errant crosses. Unfortunately Springfield had their first
break through before half and came as a result of a corner-kick and a well
placed header.
As previously mentioned Luke showed up just before
half-time, after struggling to put two children to bed and began his pre-game
stretching. As half-time neared Mooch
struggled to decided how he should line-up so many gifted defenders. It was like Christmas for the Manager with too many gifts
under the tree. With Jon, Luke, Phil,
and Ben all the best central defenders we’ve ever recruited, someone would have to sacrificed and forced to play more attacking football. The old Orangemen Manager
Bob, perhaps feeling guilty that for 8 years he has never let Jon have any time up
front, offered that Jon never played defense before joining the Orangemen and
that I should let him have a go at right or left
mid-field to get more speed into the attack.
That was all the push Mooch needed so now he just needed to organize the
front-line to press forward to take some pressure off the defense.
When the half-began they started as they began except Luke
went in for Ben as Stopper and Ben marshalled the mid-field. At ten minutes into the second half, Mooch
moved Jon to the mid-field alongside Ben and
put Phil in as stopper. Then he rotated
Maruice and Andres into striking positions. Honorable mention to Bobby A, Davey N, and Jimmy L for the time they served up front.
The Orangemen’s first break came when Jon had a blistering
run up the left flank and shot the ball on goal from outside on the left. Peter, using his long legs, ran to follow the
ball and arrived just as the keeper was reaching down to grab the fast moving
ball. Peter’s pressure distracted the
keeper just sufficiently for him to bobble the ball and allow it to roll through
his legs and straight into the net. Not
a spectacular goal but an equalizing goal and a sense of hope spread throughout
the team. Springfield probably didn’t
know what hit them. With that much
pressure in the midfield and speed to move forward it was like a new side team
had emerged. Throughout our center line,
Ben, Jon, Luke, and Phil each have the
speed to not only contain their player but to step past them and win every ball
played in front of them. Only attacks
from the sides had any hope of penetrating the defense. But with the seasoned veteran, Karl “I
learned to play defense from the Germans” M as a full-back, he broke up play
after play, not missing a single opportunity to stick his foot on the ball and
clear it out of the back. Doug also
joined in on the left, playing his world renowned, nobody get’s through a brick
wall defense.
On the left side of the pitch, play was a little
weaker. Greg Z joined the Orangemen
having only played soccer for about 4 years and all of that, small field
pick-up games. He had never played in a
full sided, match, with sidelines, goals, and a ref before. Greg is a gifted athlete with gorilla size
and cat like reflexes. However when you
give a gorilla a soccer ball and ask him to play it with his feet, strange
things happen. Nevertheless as Greg
get’s his wits about him, his speed and athleticism will emerge and he will fit
in well with the Orangemen style of play.
Our second break came driving through the center of the
field. Jon received a pass and with the
Springfield defense now back on their heels was able to penetrate to the 18
without a defender stepping up. A big
mistake. Jon cut to the right and had a
go at the goal. The shot was unexpected
and the keeper was off his line. He back
peddled but not enough and jumped to deflect the shot over his head. The ball was just high enough to clear his
fingertips and low enough to pass below the cross-bar. Another keeper error? Hard to say...if was a great shot.
The third goal came on a break-away. Floppy played the ball over the top and the break was on. Maurice was in off-sides position but kept his head and didn't make a play on the ball therefore the ref didn't blow his whistle. Luke came in from the left, running from an onsides position,collect the ball in the center of the field, it was only him and the keeper remaining. He seemed to slow his pace as he thought
about what was sure to be a certain goal, he just needed to consider how he was
going to beat the keeper. He decided to
cut to the right and use his stronger foot to pop the ball up, over the keepers
flailing arm in into the net. Goal
number three for the Orangemen. All they
had to do was last 10 more minutes without Springfield scoring to clinch the
victory.
Wave after wave of Springfield attacks came as the
exasperation of experiencing this kind of a loss the the Orangemen was unheard
of. The shots rang in, but Gene-O was on
the end of everyone. Stopping the ball
dead, as he sprawled on the ground, and not allowing a rebound which would
cause the melee’s in the box. The the
final whistle came the Orangemen held with a 3 - 1 victory and the first win
for the Orangemen in the 2012 season, and it’s only our second game.
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