Another Stunning Victory for Orange

W&L High School Pitch

While Mooch was drinking beer, smoking cigars, and reading books down at OBX the Orangemen were delivering an Orange Punch to Arlington on the massive field at Washington & Lee High School last Saturday night (August 27, 2012).  Floppy brought the equipment (many thanks) and Bob stepped out of retirement briefly to manage the player's egos. The result was extraordinary ...

This report was filed by Gooch:

We won 3-2. B had a great game. Mike (the guy filling-in for you) played good. Chris and his 2 guests John and Henry were outstanding. We put more players into attack and maintained possession on their half. We dominated the game much more than score indicated. I think we had 15-20 shots; 3-5 barely missing or hitting the pipes; GK made 2-4 saves; several shots were way off - but it was good to see people firing away.  Obviously, we couldn't do anything on attack if John (JAG) wasn't such a tyrant to any opponent who came near him - Karl played well and we had good subs in D.

This report was filed by B:

We won 3-2.  Mike (Floppy) scored a goal, and [B] had 2 including the game winner which was a header off a corner kick from Chris…

This report was filed by Gene:

...another victory, 3-2 could have been 6-2, see you next week. Gene. O.

Well done Orangemen!  This is our second victory in the three games we have won this Fall 2012 season.  I wish I could have been there.

Orangemen vs Springfield '74 and Peter Eats Crow

On a spectacular evening in South Alexandria the Orangemen delivered their first win of the 2012 Fall season with their goalkeeper, Gene-O, earning “Man-O-da-Match” honors by coming up big on not one, not two, not even three saves.  Geno-O could be seen diving left, diving right, taking a line drive straight at his face, or sinking back to his line to tip the ball over the cross-bar.  Not even the most critical fan’s of Orangemen Football could fine a single frustration in Gene-O’s performance racking up a record setting, dare I say, 10 big saves to not only keep the Orangemen in the match but to help clinch a victory against a side which they haven’t beaten in recent history.  The final score, 3 to 1 on this glorious night where the temperature stayed in the low seventies with a humidity level nearing that of an art museum.

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.

Great Pretenders vs Mt Vernon 11 Aug 2012

Where the rain came from nobody knows.  But at 8 pm last night, with the temperature dipping below the mid 70’s, the rain came down at Bryant Alternative School. At game time there was a brief respite as the doors and trunks in the parking lot opened up and players streamed onto the field, both sides dressed in Black and White.  Not an orange shirt in sight.  Where were the Orangemen?  Turns out the 11 August Orangemen game was cancelled by FC Valpo so they would not have a chance to play.  Not a good sign for the league as most teams in the Grey Division have been struggling with low numbers at every match.  FC Valpo couldn’t overcome the player deficit and cancelled the match...since it would have been a home game for them they would have to pay for the Ref.  

Undeterred by diminishing numbers, Michael Reles the manager of the Great Pretenders Soccer Club invited any members of the Orangemen who wanted to get a match in on Saturday night to play with them.  This is the Great Pretender’s forth season and Michael is confident that his numbers will climb.  Mooch was the only permanent team member to show for the match.  Peter, one of our regular visitors also ventured down from Maryland to play, although he has a track record for visiting a few teams in the Grey Division, having started in this league with Michael back on the Chantilly Casuals some 15+ years ago.  But let’s get onto the game...

After deciding that Mt Vernon would wear white and the Pretenders would wear Black we took to the Pitch...with Peter opting to play for Mt. Vernon since the Pretenders were already at full strength.  Mooch started at left half-back with the team manager, doing something the current Orangemen manager would never do, start at Keeper.  Already getting soggy feet from the initial downpour the ref blew the whistle and the game was on.

The Pretenders started with a 3,3,4 as did Mt Vernon.  Since the field and ball were soaking wet the game was fast with the ball slipping and sliding at lighting speed.  The Pretenders controlled the ball well for the first twenty minutes having run after run up the field, but losing possession of the ball near the box due to the difficulty controlling the ball.  Mt Vernon was unable to penetrate for most of that time.  After the first 20 minutes however the rain couldn’t hold and began dumping on the park.  The rain immediately saturated the field an slowed the pace of the game, it also reduced visibility and in Mooch’s case, streaming into his eyes, played havoc with his contact lens.  By the end of the first half the teams moved to the sidelines still scoreless.

Stepping off the field in the pouring rain, Peter suggested to the Ref that we don’t take a full half time and return to the field to keep playing.  Both teams agreed, second half substitutions were made and we were back on the pitch.  Standing on the sidelines in the pouring rain, Mooch was getting a chill...everybody was soaked to the bone and the only warm place was to be out playing.  Michael stopped playing keeper and an new Pretenders keeper took charge between the sticks.

Before Mooch was subbed back in however, Mt Vernon had their first break through as as a result of a Penalty Kick.  A Mt Vernon striker ran into the box and played the ball past the Pretenders, long bearded sweeper.  The sweeper reached out for the ball and the Mt Vernon player caught the leg going down.  Appeals to the ref for blatant diving went out but the Ref held his ground immediately warning the PK.  The Mt Vernon striker didn’t miss.  The score was 1 - 0.  Undeterred the Pretenders continued to pressure.  Boths sides were passing well, despite the torrential rain,  with most of the play happening in the mid-field.    Building from the back a Pretender’s mid-fielder collected the ball on the left side of the pitch, switched fields, and made a run forward.  An opportunity was building and as he received the ball back near the top right of Mt Vernon’s penalty area, made a great shot which stretched the back of the net.  The score was tied.  The game continued with both sides in even possession of the ball but seemingly balanced.  Mt. Vernon would begin to see more and more of the ball and their shots became more frequent.  The new keeper for the Pretenders made two spectacular saves to keep them in the match, one where he was off his line and had to run backwards and jump to tip the ball over the goal.  Finally, however, Mt Vernon made their breakthrough and it came on a corner kick.  The ball came in low crossing from right to left.  The largest member of Mt. Vernon’s team,  who looked very similar to the Brazilian “Hulk” leaped into the air over top of the ball playing it between his legs with his heel of right boot crossing up behind him to connect with the ball and loop it over the keeper into the top right corner of the net.  It was an amazing goal and the stage for a Mt. Vernon win...as with less than 10 minutes to play the score was now 2-1.  

Undeterred the Pretender’s kept the pressure one and the rain began to subside.  With less than five minutes to go a substitution was made.  After the substitution the ref whistled for the throw-in to continue but Mt Vernon still had 12 men on the pitch.  The Pretender’s had the break, so the Ref allowed the play to continue with several members of Mt Vernon screaming at the ref that they still had 12 men on the pitch.  The Pretender’s took advantage of the confusion and scored their second goal tying the match with less than a minute to go.  Mt Vernon appealed to the ref that he should have stopped the match but since the 12th man was to their advantage he didn’t stop the play and allowed the goal to stand.  

In the final minute there was an injury which took the game past full time.  However the ref, in a very uncharacteristic move, allowed for the game to continue into injury time.  I can only believe he was having as much fun as we were in the game.  With three minutes extra to play the Pretenders continued their nervous attacks.  Mooch was playing right half back.  The break came on the left side of the field with almost every Pretender moving forward to follow the break.  Open on the right Mooch ran to the top of the Box and the ball was played diagonally across to him.  He then did something he has absolutely no recollection of and made 10 miles of space for himself in the box.  He knew the ball was out from under his feet and he had another 10 minutes to size up the strike to connect cleanly with the ball.  He hit it hard and low, but straight at the keeper.  The keeper brought his hands together and could only deflect the ball down and back straight into the penalty area with an Pretenders forward ready to pounce and finish the ball past the Mt Vernon keeper.  The Pretenders were now ahead, 2-3.  Thirty seconds later the game was over with the Pretenders winning in the rain.  After the match Mooch told Peter he picked the wrong team.  The Orangmen should look forward to playing both of these teams later in the season.  Mt Vernon hosts the Orangemen on 24 Nov, the last game of the season at Bryant with the Pretender’s hosting the Orangemen earlier in the season on 13 October at Braddock Park.  Thank you Michael for offering the Orangemen the opportunity to play on your team.

Orangemen vs Juventus 4 August 2012

For a team calling themselves Juventus there wasn’t a whole lot of Italian words and phrases being used as the Orangemen took on their opponent under the lights at Bryant Alternative School losing in a well played match by a score of 7 to 3.  In fact most of the words and phrases seemed Spanish in their origin and a number of the players lined up against us would probably not be found on the Juventus roster either.  Kickoff was delayed about 10 minutes as by 8 pm only 5 players clearly on the Juventus squad had assembled.  The remainder of the players came from the park bench and could clearly be described as young, fast, and very good.  Three words used to describe players from a different soccer league.  On this night, they would make us sweat on a balmy hot and humid evening in Alexandria, Virginia.  Gerard, assigned as referred for the evening by Dark Associates, would officiate the match.

Last night marked the first game of the new season which extends from August 4 until the end of November.  As I collected team dues, for the first time in 14 years, I actually thought about the cash in my wallet sitting on the sidelines during the game...a sum which I would never carry around after dark.  Which was, of course,  the case when after the game I shut the field lights off and noticed how utterly alone I was in the dark, back parking lot of an alternative school.  Nevertheless I quick stepped it up to my car and drove home thinking about the game the Orangemen turned in.

First, we scored three goals.  In fact we scored first.  A goal that from a well placed corner kick taken by Jose early in the first half.  After what appeared to be a scrum in the box with the ball being headed toward the goal by Ben and deflected down into the goal box, Dougie was able to curl his foot around the loose ball and sink it into the net.  We would have to wait until the second half for the remainder of the goals all though the remainder of the half was not with tremendous opportunities.  Again and again we broke forward with Jose leading the charge only to miss a handful more times by a few inches.  Late in the first half we picked up another player, Amman, who appears to have noticed what colors we were wearing, went home and found a orange jersey, and showed up standing on the sidelines and seamlessly rolled onto the field during one of our substitutions.  Luckily, he was a good player so at half-time I welcomed him back for the second 45 minutes,  not that he was planning on sitting the bench anyway.

 Ironically it was not until Juventus earned a red card and one of their players was removed from the pitch by Gerard for a very cynical kick at John that they actually started to play better, and scored their first goal.  That was followed by two more before the end of the half.

Coming out the second half, Juventus was ready to score.  They were able to score two more in the first ten minutes clearly putting the game out of reach for us.  It’s not clear whether we just came out flat or the goals they scored were just good, but they didn’t seemed troubled much by the opportunities when they were presented.  I’m voting for flat.

Not without heart the Orangemen pushed back.  We pressured and pressured and our second breakthrough came as a direct result of this pressure.  Sam, who was playing a bit higher up the field as a halfback, rather than in his beloved left full, back position, charged their keeper who was holding the ball looking to distribute the ball to his right back.  Miscalculating Sam’s speed and cat like reflexes, the keeper put the ball on the ground and Sam pounced with his left foot.  He hooked the ball over the keepers shoulder and into the side netting of the far goal post.  He celebrated by releasing a huge scream as he ran the length of the field to prepare for kickoff.

 Our third goal emerged also as a result of pressure, this time by the Mooch himself.  He took on a Spanish speaking version of the Juve regular Marco Motta pressuring him back into his own penalty area.  Beating him on the inside with a deftly placed ball he raced around Motta on the outside hoping to get the cross in.  He beat Motta to the ball getting ready for a shoulder charge.  When he hit Motta shoulder to shoulder on the endline, just as his laces connected to the ball, he was knocked clean off his feet and was left laying in the dirt as the ball bounced free and still in play in the box.  Amman was able to run onto the ball and placed a strike on goal in the penalty area.  The ball hit a defender's hand and Gerald signaled for the penalty kick.  Gooch, recognizing that Mooch had been knocked ass over tea kettle signed for a substitution, which would have to wait until after the PK was taken.  Ben stepped up to take the kick and easily beat the keeper slotting the ball into the right side netting.

Final observations about the match.  We would have faired significantly better had Jose been on this evening...with several strikes missing by inches.  Shots he has made countless times on other evenings.  Bob pressured the ball relentlessly up top, in fact most of our team was stepping to the ball to place initial pressure on Juve so they would have to begin their passing immediately.  Mikey played his last game at stopper for the year as he returns to college next weekend, just when I was thinking about using his speed in midfield again, along one of our flanks.  Ben returned after a few weeks absence to put on a clinic for Juve and for us on how to properly contain the man you are marking, and win the ball, without over committing or diving in thus losing the containment.  John who seems fully recovered from broken or bruised ribs was nonetheless complaining of a tweak in his groin.  Perhaps his speed was off a step due to his groin tweak but you couldn’t tell it as he raced down countless players to get himself between the goal and the ball.  Kurt, playing primarily on the left this game, raced forward on multiple attacks, and got the cross in on several occasions,  his last cross was exquisitely place and almost resulted in a late goal.  Nate, Gallucci, and Ann were also putting great pressure on the ball, from whatever position they were asked to play.  For Ann, the work she is doing in the gym with her personally trainer is paying off in terms of game fitness.  For Gooch, laying off that extra helping of pasta during the week seems to have paid off as well.  Nate is fast and with his long legs able to disrupt more than a few attacks.  As always Gene put in a good evenings work in the net and the goals that were scored were well out of his reach.  His distributions really improved last night.

We played well Orangemen...the score may not reflect it, but we had plenty of chances and on another evening perhaps without all the Juve ringers the outcome would be different.  After the match the Juve manager, Milton, apologized to me for the ringers saying they wouldn’t have fielded a team without the help.  I’m OK with that, and we did pick up Amman ourselves.  I would rather play with any players available as long as someone is there keeping the Peace.  And thanks again to Gerad the ref for keeping that peace.