Orangemen Don’t Lose!
Orangemen Don’t Lose!
On a very cold night, on the weekend of the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia, the Orangemen begin an undefeated run to prepare for the Spring/Summer Season. Last night the Orangemen netted six goals against Fairfax. Unfortunately Fairfax scored five and one of our goals was given back, graciously I might add, because the ref awarded the goals and under extreme protest from the other team, one player in particular who was not in a position to judge whether or not the ball inched over the end-line. Style points go to Will’s friend, who scored the goal, for agreeing to overturn the refs decision at the center circle. Two, maybe three, players on the field were in position to see if the ball went out of play. Those players were not involved in the protest. Instead, rather, the more vocal of the Fairfax players, influenced the game with their mouth. The Orangemen should be proud of the way they kept their composure last night. During the first half a large number of calls were going Fairfax’s way...a lot of the decisions made by the Fairfax players before the ref made the call. Too many for me to consider it a coincidence. Nevertheless, even with giving up a goal, we also gave up five more. Despite the number of goals we scored we still gave the game away defensively, and then failed to score even more offensively. We had plenty of opportunities and we we controlling the ball extremely well. We could win the ball and then move forward quickly. On offense, we had way too many offsides to be happy about the outcome. I’ve talked about his before...once we get a couple offsides calls, we shouldn’t get any more. Last night the ball got called back at least 7 or 8 times. That’s way too many. Yes, some were because Fairfax was assisting the ref vocally, but they also played a tight trap. They were pulling the trap at mid field. It’s up to the strikers to know when the trap is being set and pay attention. It’s simple to beat. Stay onsides. Come back for the ball, instead of maying the break, and do a give and go with the passer instead of expecting the through ball every time. The give and go will then give the passing player all the momentum as he is running through the trap and the defenders are moving forward. Simple stuff.
Strikers: Wil, Kendall, B, John H,
Midfield: Fredo, George, Daniel, Mooch, Cris, Wil’s friend, Cris’s friend
Defense: Mauricio, Richard, John H, Greg, Cris’s friend, George, Fredo, Daniel
Keepr: Gene
Final Score was five to five. I can’t remember all the scoring...but here is what I can remember.
Wil’s friend scored in the first seconds of the game…Mooch was turning the lights on so he didn’t see the goal.
Kendall scored second off an unselfish assist from Mooch running through the top of the box after a classy steal at mid-field that lead to the break
Cris’s friend had the goal of the match hitting at high curler into the top right corner beating their 6’7” keeper flat footed.
Wil’s friend had a second goal...and sadly his hat trick was removed as a result of the goal being removed.
Kendall’s friend, Richard, played very good defense for us and had some powerful runs up field late in the second half.
George had an great and aggressive game, playing some full-back and midfield, but getting involved in a lot of challenges for the ball and winning most of them.
Mauricio #2’s brought his son Daniel to play with us for the second week in a row. Mooch moved Daniel around to different positions having him play left and right mid and some left full-back. He had a shot late in the second half from the top of the box that rattled the cross bar.
Wil also rattled the upright on a devilishly hard shot from the right side of the box.
We really did control the match and passed well to hold the ball. If not for a few break-downs in defense, due mostly to rotating many players through defense, we really would have run away with the game.
Great match Orangemen and thanks for the guests who showed up to play in Orange.
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