Mt Vernon takes Orangemen to School

One of the Orangemen's oldest rivals come from Mt Vernon.  We've always struggled with Mt Vernon as they've always produced a quality team.  Jon, their captain, a dynamic and vocal entity who demands no less total commitment and focus when his team is on the pitch.

This week we played Mt.Vernon in a friendly on our shared pitch at Bryant Alternative School.  The Orangemen looked to be short handed on Thursday evening so I invited some players from Maryland to bump up our ranks. Peter Z is building a team in Maryland and brought down some of his star players, Mark, Eric, Lionel, and himself.

At game time we had enough players, with one to spare (Alfredo) who I gave to Mt. Vernon to come up to full strength.  As a visitor Alfredo has graciously stepped over to the other side on multiple occasions, and mostly to the Orangemen's demise.  He will be transition from being a visitor and onto the Orangemen roster for the Spring Season so we will be seeing more of his all around playing skills in Orange this spring.

The first half of the game was shades of the beating we took from Mt Vernon at the start of the Winter Season.  Mt. Vernon was up 5 to nil.  Our regular defense failed to show for the game so we had to play with modifications that Mt Vernon seemed to exploit on demand.  Up top we failed to keep possession of the ball for the timeless reason that we simply failed to pass.  Since four of the five players we fielded up top belonged to Peter I will let him sort that out on his his new team.  All were quality players, but each played as an individual.  We couldn't string two passes together primarily because Pete's guys didn't have a pass in them.  Countless opportunities went wanting with the Maryland players racing up the field on their own, past their open teammates screaming for the ball.

Mooch approached Peter at halftime and told him his players all just earned themselves defensive responsibilities.  So at the start of the half, all four Maryland players were relegated to defense.  Since they possessed speed and great ball skills they were able to break up the Mt Vernon attack and play the ball forward.  The Orangemen were then able to settle into a passing game where we kept possession of the ball a lot longer than in the first half.  Also, when the ball turned over, we immediately pressed the ball causing Mt Vernon to hurry their attack, which allowed our Maryland defenders opportunities to intervene.

Soon the shots on the Mt Vernon goal began to rain down.  They seemed confused that the game had been turned around.  Karl M, switched from his defensive back position was able to make numerous runs forward.  Maurico #2 played up top and smoothly controlled the ball in their box and looked for opportunities to slot the ball home.  As the second half grew long Maurico scored two for the Orangemen and was working on a hat trick.  Only the skill and quick reflexes of the Mt Vernon keeper kept his team in the second half.  For example late in the 2nd half Karl took a pass outside and put in the cross of the century.  Mooch ran onto the ball and only had to push it straight to score the third goal.  He focused all his attention at making proper contact with his left foot.  He hit it perfectly...but just as perfectly their keeper was scrambling across the goal mouth and made an incredible lunge for the ball and was able to sweep it clear.  Few keepers would have made that save.

In the end, the second half was a far better showing of the Orangemen's abilities as we knock on the Spring/Summer season door.  Final second half score, Orangemen 2 -- Mt Vernon 2 or maybe 3.  I lost count...but it didn't matter as it was a far better showing.