No Practice Makes No Perfect

We played Springfield last night...and alas came up short...final score 0 to 4. We had some opportunities but failed to get a decent shot in that would have taken some of the pressure off of us. I felt we were pretty evenly matched and our defense was adequate to keep them from scoring. Several of the goals were soft as it appears our organization suffered just a little and just broke down enough to let them through.

Our attempts at passing, and our opportunities to pass, were terrific. I think we played with our heads up and quite well as a team in this regard. I was happy about our team play. Alas, missing from our game last night was the accuracy in our passes. I heard a lot of apologies when a pass went wide. In my mind the reason that our passes were inaccurate was because we failed to get enough warm-up in before the start of the game. There are two reasons for this. First, we didn’t physically get on the field until 8 pm. The ref gave us about 4 minutes before he blew the whistle to begin. That is not enough time for a proper warm up, let alone getting a few touches on the ball. The fields are becoming a problem. It’s looking more and more likely that the league let us down and our home games will begin at 9 pm. This is compounded by the fact that another team is practicing on our field until 9 pm. If there was a game ahead of ours they would be off the field by 8:30. But with practice they will not leave until 9 pm sharp and then we will no doubt need to run them off. The ref will be looking to start the game as early as possible.

Without the field early there will be little time to practice and less time to get organized on the field. As the manager, I simply will not get any touches on the ball, as I will get called to the center circle almost immediately. If you want to see horrible passing watch me start playing cold. Yet we still need to warm up, get some hard passes and hard traps in, shots on goal and our keeper needs to warm up. Can’t do that all in 4 minutes.

Second, during the past two games I’ve noticed another phenomenon occurring. The ref seems to be starting the clock on the hour, regardless if we are playing or not. He deducts the time we are not playing from the time in the first half. We will have the field from 9 until 11 at which time the lights will go out. I’m considering scheduling the ref for game time to begin at 9:15. That way will will always get 15 minutes to practice once we take the field. The game is already starting late, and I hate to do it, but I think it is the only way to proceed...but I’d like to hear other suggestions. I will clear this with the other manager as well.

One more thing, last night we had guys who arrived 30 minutes before the game...but since we didn’t take the field we didn’t get much practice in. But we also had a few guys arriving just before the whistle. From a arrival time perspective, I do not intend to change the schedule. If the game starts at 9, be there before 9. I’m only planning on telling the ref that the game starts at 9:15. That way he works for us, and we don’t work for him.

I going to give Man of the Match honors to Gooch for his performance last night. He seemed to have boundless energy, was taken down a couple of times and kept his head, and he broke up more than a few plays on defense, but got forward a number of times to aid the attack.

Special thanks to Robbie and Matthew who joined us from Springfield last night and gave us the ability to rotate at least one substitute.

Mooch Screws the Pooch

As soon as it became apparent that another organization was going to be playing into the 8 pm slot at Bryant Alternative Mooch’s blood pressure began to rise.  When players from De Agosto failed to be visible Mooch immediately began looking for a scapegoat.  Could he be to blame?  Did he misread the schedule?  Did the other team try to communicate with him and he missed the phone call or email?  Assembled on this night was one of the highest quality Orangemen called-ups in over a decade.  The quality of the Orangemen management, however, seems to have gone on walkabout.  

Just before 8 pm, the referee for the nights match showed up and began offering help to figure out what was going on. Hope was not completely lost as it appeared the Orangemen were in the right place at the right time.  The fact that the ref was in place doesn't really absolve the management of responsibility since they schedule the ref.  So if the manager provides the wrong info to the team, he most likely provided the wrong info to the ref scheduler as well.  There really isn't a cross check unless the individual ref does the due diligence on their own - since all the information is available through the league website.

First thing Mooch did was grab a phone and call the managers of De Agosto.  The assistant manager answered the phone and after a few moments of communication difficulty was able to express the fact that their manager was out of the country and no one had contacted him about a game.   So the fact that De Agosto would be a no show was now at 100%.  

Second, as 15 Orangemen had assembled it would be easy to play, if we had a venue.  Using an iPhone, we 1st confirmed the schedule said 8 pm, and after finally cracking the code on downloading the field permit, to our horror observed that the County had in fact, booked the field for the coaches league from 9-11 pm on Saturday nights.  Something the NVCL affirmed on numerous occasions, not just with the Orangemen, but with Mt Vernon who share our field on opposite weeks, that the field belonged to us at 8 pm.  Clearly that was not the case.

However, it has to be pointed out that Mooch is not free from responsibility for the break-down last night.  He sent a email to De Agosto, but upon checking his email last night, he did not receive a reply. Instead what he had received was a “not delivered” reply from a broken “assistant manager” email account.  The email did, however, make it through to their manager, however there was no reply from him either.  Mooch should have tried an alternative means of contacting De Agosto.  For this he is responsible.  

But there are a few facts about De Agosto to be considered.  First, they are in fact the team that was ejected from the Winter League for failure to meet with the League management over accusations over violent play and also for failure to show to matches.  And second, as it turns out, Steve informed Mooch this morning that they failed to show for their first Spring fixture last week as well.  The league will be dealing with this team that  seems  unable to rise the level of responsibility necessary to play in the most casual league in existence.  Mooch feels at least partially absolved of responsibility as De Agosto seems to really not want to try very hard.  But his is not guilt free.

Eventually we did get some good fun in last night as we had enough players to slit up and play small goals.  Jan brought cones and pennes.  The two teams were Jan, Doug, Tedd, Kendall, Alfredo, Scott R, Dave N, Louis  vs  Mooch, Ben, Luke, Gene, Karl, Scott F, and Gooch.  Within 10 minutes there were complaints that the field was too small so we expanded the full width of half the field.  There was plenty of room to run and to express ourselves with speed and enough space for the ball handlers to make a few moves as well.

By the time we finished playing, around 10:15, everyone was out of breath, but everyone was happy to have stayed and played...and as always the small sided matches are fun with everyone getting a lot of touches on the ball, and they get to practice things they wouldn’t do in a real game.  Tedd for instance tried a back heel while on defense.  It came up short, Ben intervened, and punished them with a quick goal.  Tedd was overheard ruminating that he had broken one of his own commandments, “thou shall not backheel under pressure”.  Gene, once again, established himself as a field player.  His footwork is tremendous and he has a natural ability to break down an 1 v 1 attack.   Mooch threw a Johann Cruyff on Doug that left him scratching his head.  Karl, would be ribbed late in the game for standing dead center of our goal, crept forward on numerous occasions to steal a ball and put in a lethal cross or two.  Luke, who hasn’t been out in months, enjoyed getting out and showing us that he is still lightning fast and plays will one speed, full on.  However, he must have been showing a bit of restraint as no one emerged from anvil tackles with any injuries.   Dave N stepped off the field for a breather...which raised concerns...as he was seen on the sidelines doubled over.  However he was just looking in his bag for a water bottle.   Kendall switched back to his Orangemen Lotto’s which worked well for him allowing him to direct a rapid cross between the cones.  Alfredo and Jan were work horses running up and down the pitch.  The two Scott's played well mixing it up on occasion in the center of the field.  Gooch played his signature I’m a brick wall and you’re not getting through me.  Ben was the high goal scorer on the evening...although he was the recipient of magical service on multiple occasions. As always, after "last goal wins" was called, and the last goal was scored.  We went on to play for another 15 minutes.  It was a blast!

The bad taste in my mouth remains and my apologies to everyone on the team for my any frustration last night caused...in particular to Phil...who can only make rare appearances...last night being one of them...and decided not to stay for the pickup match.

The Pentagon Soccer Club

The Orangemen have always had a close relationship with the Pentagon Soccer Club. Many of the players who have donned Orange over the years were recruited off the lunchtime pitch to play in our Saturday games.

"Beyond the Game"

In this video, "Beyond the Game", Jessica Carpenter, from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, immortalizes the Pentagon Soccer Club and some of our favorite teammates including Tedd and Dave. Enjoy!

Orangemen vs Juve -- a Spine Tingler

The first game of the Spring/Summer Season and Mother Nature fooled us all again.  Now I’m really considering a drive to Punxsutawney PA for a talk with the groundhog that might just result in my drop kicking the furry little  liar through the goalposts of life.  At 7:00 pm the thermometer in my car was still registering 55 degrees.  By game time, at 8:30 out at Poplar Tree park, the temperature had plummeted to 39 degrees.  The good news is that the rain held off. 39 degrees and raining would have led to one miserable night on the field.

We played the Fairfax Juventus...our last game was with them was a 3 to 7 defeat on 4 August 2012.  You can relive the highlights from that great match here...Link to 4 August Match. 

The game started late about eight minutes after 8 pm, but the ref started his clock right at 8 pm.  We know this because several member of our team also started their watches at the opening whistle.  So we were cheated out of a full first half with 8 minutes of game time coming out of first half.  The round of subs I was sending in just as he blew the whistle would not get a fair amount of playing time.  The analyst in me says we were robbed of 88 minutes of total playing time whereas the ref was overpaid by his 8 minutes.  That stinks.   It was particularly bad on this evening as the ref never called the managers up to the center circle for the coin toss.  So no coin toss and no pre-game discussion that I thought was required by the league.  In light of the liability waivers the league forced everyone to sign this season, upping the formality of play, I find this troubling that notification did not make it down to all referees that a pre-game discussion with managers in the Coaches League was mandatory.   I had to inform the ref on the field of play that I was the captain and manager of the team.  I will be taking this up with both the league and the ref scheduler.

With regard to calling the game, however, generally speaking I found the ref to be making good calls, and he was definitely keeping up with play, in some instances beating strikers (both sides) down the field on fast breaks.  On one such play he actually aided our defense taking what looked like a fine down field pass right between the shoulder blades, which ended the attack.  So for the purposes of having him on the field he seems like he has a good eye for the game and allows for a modest amount of physical play...a bit more on that in a second.

Our first goal was scored by Ben with a cross coming in from Kendall, who later confessed to flubbing a shot that resulted in that nice cross to Ben.  The second goal came from Emile on a PK after a Juventus handball in the box.  Based on the players we had on the field Emile wasn't my first choice to take the PK so  we were all nerves on the sideline.  Emile took the shot coolly and proved he can strike the ball on frame under pressure.  Which is all you want to be able to do with the PK...the rest is up to the quality of the defending keeper...who he beat.  We had a chance at an opening goal with a very similar run up, Tedd passed the ball to Kendall who streaked up the left side of the field and then sent the ball back into the center where Ben tried to finish with a hole in his foot.  Emile has a standing order to practice strikes on goal when he arrives at the field.  I forced Kendall and Jose to also take shots before game time.  Sadly, I didn't instruct Ben to take shots, nor did I myself take any pre-game shots on goal.  Ben recovered quickly, by expertly finishing his second opportunity.  When my first opportunity game, I made of hash of it.  With options to cross the ball in between the keeper and the marauding Ben who played me the ball, to take a touch into space deeper into the box, or play the ball back, I chose to strike the ball at the net, which resulted in a terrible shot.  Making contact with the inside of my right foot, I never directed the ball back across the net.  The ball simply glanced over top of my foot and continued straight over the end line...pathetic. 

Late in the second half, Juventus began fouling a lot.  Whenever we were on the ball it seemed like they were putting their body on us as well.  The referee allowed some of the more physical play to continue which is fine, shoulder to shoulder charges with some slide tackles.   Some of it was highly questionable.  He never produced a single card the entire game.  The hit Ben took to his back was particularly heinous as I saw his head snap all the way back compressing the lower five of his cervical vertebrae, C3 - C7,  and at least the top two, T1 and T2, of his thoracic vertebrae.  It was as nasty a hit as I have seen since as the Juve player was not playing the ball, he simply lowered his shoulder and hit straight through Ben’s back.  This was clearly a yellow card and quite possibly a red card but it is difficult to judge intention during the heat of play.  The ref awarded a free kick but failed to produce a card.  However, in my mind the ref was slowly losing control of the game as tensions were beginning to flair.  Juve was upping the physicality of their play.  He did award a free keep to Juve for a tackle Jan produced near our end of field that resulted in a shoving match.  The Orangemen all kept their heads when the tension flared so thank you all for defusing the situations when it was clear the ref wasn’t playing to do so on this night.

In total Juventus scored four goals on us.  Their first one off a spectacular header from an outside cross, but the remaining three, were relatively soft goals.  The third goal came in the second half when Gene failed to leave his line early enough, and the fourth when Floppy came out too early, quite possibly influenced by the third goal.  However, our defense was an abject mess which no doubt added to the confusion.  I’m not enforcing our two flat in the back defense when we have plenty of experienced defenders on the pitch...however it appears over and over again, when we change or formation in the middle of the game we get punished.  The fact that three of the goals we so soft leads me to the conclusion that confusion and disorganization are what lead to the goals rather than our abilities.  In the end though we improved our performance over the Juve game we lost back in August losing by only 2 goals vs 4 and certainly the chance to even win last nights game was within our grasp.

After careful consideration I am awarding the Man-of-the-Match honors this week to Ben for his total field play and excellent distribution, including his unselfish ball to me, which I subsequently f-ed up.  Also, Ben gets the sportsman award for not coming off that shoulder to his back with both fists swinging.  Few would have taken a shot like that and shrugged it off...in this case I recommend Ben not shrug his shoulders for a least a week lest he risk injuring what have to be sore vertebrae this morning.   Kendall, get’s runner up for his work rate and fast break opportunities.

Jim L, Dave N, Chuck P, and Mooch enjoyed a quick beer at the Red Robin in Fair Lakes directly after the game.  It really is nice to cap off the evening, win or lose, lifting a pint.

Orangemen Defeat Turtles in Ultra Fun Pre-Season Match

In the second friendly of the off season the Orangemen gathered with their cross-county rivals the Turtles. The game was played at the wonderful pitch at Poplar Tree Park off Stringfellow Road in Chantilly.  By the 6 pm kickoff the temperature had climbed to 59 degrees and the snow from the massive late winter “Snowquester that wasn’t” had been reduced to a few wet spots on the cinder pathways leading to the field.

At game time both squads were at full strength with the Orangemen posting one of the strongest sides they have fielded all winter.  We began the match with Gene between the sticks, Maurcio and Doug playing our two flat in the back, with each sweeper responsible for their half of the field.  Karl and Gooch starting as left and right back’s respectives, with the winter rested Ben playing central stopper.  In midfield we started with Tedd “the Ogre” on the right, Jan “The Judge and Jury” on the left, with Louis “I can fly the wings off a C-130 but seldom can find the right field” starting in central midfield.  Up top Dave N returned from the west coast and Kendall (who rejoined the Orangemen after stepping away from a few seasons) started the match sporting his newly purchased bright orange Lotto Stadio Primato. He claims his purchase of the orange shoes were to show his commitment to us and in repentance for having joined another team after we welcomed him graciously into our family a few years ago.   By the way if you are interested in a new pair of cleats you should look into these shoes.  Lotto makes a quality soccer shoe and these have kangaroo uppers with shorter cleats for hard ground, but work well on the turf.  Best part about these shoes is that they are $33 bucks.  You can’t by quality kangaroo boots for this price anywhere so here is the link to make the purchase.... Lotto Soccer Boots

We immediately settled into a passing game.  Twenty minutes into the game everybody was talking about how much fun they were having.  The game was fast paced, back and forth, with everybody joining the action and passing passing passing.  One of the best players on the Turtles was they young player controlling the central midfield they call Donovan.  At twenty minutes in, even though he is a minimum 20 years younger than most of us, he was huffing and puffing at the work he need to put in to keep us at bay. Without Donovan, the Orangemen would have posted two or more goals by halftime.

But the Turtles kept coming.  Their defense was strong.  It wasn’t until after the game that I realized, despite our possession and pressure in their third of the field, all of our attacks came from the center of the field.  In fact, I don’t think we had a crossing ball from the deep flank played in that wasn’t a corner or place kick.  Had we broadened the attack we quite possibly would have opened up the field and created even more opportunities.  

As it stood we had opportunities but since they played so well in the center, most of our shots came from distance and were easily handled by their keeper.  Our breakthrough goal came midway through the second half.  Louis collected the ball on the right and made a run across midfield.  Jan made a run from center and Louis saw him make the break.  Louis played a wonderful ball over the top, for a moment it looked like Jan would be able to touch the ball ahead of the central defender.  The defender made it first and then made a fatal error.  Instead of clearing the ball to the side he underestimated Jan’s speed and decided to take another controlling touch.  Jan got a foot in on the left, and was able to pop the ball out to the right.  He then crossed back behind the defender and struck the ball with his right foot with the mere inches of space he created.  The ball arched perfectly toward the top right corner of the net and went in.  The Orangemen were in front.  The Turtles came back at us with everything they could muster and placed pressure on our defenders who continued to come up big when it counted.

In the end the Orange held on for a 1 - nil defeat of the Turtles...and off the pitch the Referee commented that it was the best game he’s ever seen the Orangeman play.  On top of that it was one of the funnest soccer games I've participated in for many moons.  There were smiles all around, even on the Turtles faces.

Three cheers for the Orangemen.  And by the way, I am planning to get back to awarding Orangemen-Man-of-the-Match honors as we move into the spring.  For this game, despite Ben’s triumphant return and Louis’s silky smooth touches in midfield, I am giving match honor’s to Jan who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch at once and worked hard to earn a wonderful goal.

Great job on a well earned off-season victory.  Let’s see if we can turn our fortunes this season!

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.

Slide Tackles to Remain in Beautiful Game

Notes from the NOVA Coaches League Sportsmanship Summit

On 25 Feb, 2013 Steven J hosted the Annual NOVA Coaches League, NOVA-CL, Sportsmanship Summit for the Grey Division.  Steve is the CL manager and has been hosting this summit to bring all the managers from the League together to register for the spring season, discuss rules for the season, and to vote on any changes to the league.  

Manager’s representing sixteen of the eighteen team’s in the grey division were present.  As attendance goes, this seemed like a fabulous turnout, so Steve should be commended for how well he manages this event.

Steve started the meeting bringing up the most important item on his agenda, namely, his decision to require all teams in the league to sign Liability Waivers releasing the NOVA-CL and himself from any personal liability if anyone is injured during a league sanctioned game.  You can find a copy of the signed Team Liability Waiver on our Blog or clicking on the link.

Steve further went on to say that if the teams didn’t sign these waivers they would not compete in the league this season.  Also, in years past we have allowed many players under the age of 30 to play in our games with the approval of both managers at game time.  Specifically, we allowed for the children of team members to play with their father’s, for instance.  Going forward the League has changed this policy and will now prohibit any player under the age of 18 from playing in a League sanctioned match.

After the Team Managers signed the required waivers in order to register, they then have the option to pass the liability down to individual team members.  You will find the Orangemen Liability Waiver also posted to this blog site, or just click on the link.  My policy for the agreeing to the player liability waiver will be as follows.  If you plan to play in an Orangemen match you must click “YES” or “Maybe” on the Orangemen invite.  Agreement with the eVite is an acceptance of the liability waiver as it currently reads on this website.

This decision was not put to a vote for the team managers.  The decision was made unilaterally by the league management and cannot be negotiated.  Several points were made by Team Managers that will be addressed in subsequent seasons.  The most important point made by Dick C of the Chantilly Casuals, that the waiver should not intermingle league rules with the release of liability.  The document should not be a specification of rules.  Rules should be contained in a separate document.  Steve has promised that since this is a new policy, we will continue to review and get better with how the waivers are handled.

Steve then went over a general review of how the league works and what his responsibilities are to us as Teams and Players.  He is compensated $55/Team in the Spring/Summer and again in the Fall season.  Each team also pays $25 in the Spring/Summer to pay for the hosting of the league Website (NOVA Coaches League).  You will also find the rules for Grey Division play on this link, and I recommend that you review the rules before our first game...

As you all know, during the Winter Season, we agreed to play with no slide tackling.  There was enough positive push for the no slide tackle rule that the League Felt the teams should vote on whether or not we should continue the no slide tackle rule into the Spring/Summer season.  Steve led the managers in a discussion of the pros and cons of slide tackling and also stated up front that it would take a ⅔ majority to implement such a rule.  Discussion centered around the dangers of slide tackling for those of us growing slower in our old age.  Proponents of slide tackling argued that if safety was a concern we should also eliminate headers in the box and that the elimination of slide tackles changes the beautiful games competitive nature making it harder for us to recruit younger players into our league.  The change to the rule was put to a vote.  Seven (7) managers voted for the “no-slide tackle” rule, nine (9) managers voted against the rule, with Two (2) managers not present.  The Orangemen vote, cast by your’s truly, was to keep the slide tackle in our games.  I’m willing to discuss with any of you if you disagree with my vote this season.  All this said, at any individual games, the managers can agree to no-slide tackles and the referees will support the rule game by game.  Personally I think this is a dumb add as it will confuse everyone...are we sliding or not sliding game to game.  It will have to be pretty significant reason for me to say we will not slide during any given match...extremely cold weather being one, and horrendous field conditions being two.

The season begins in two weeks.  We have one Friendly this weekend against the Turtles.  I have decided to continue collecting dues through the Spring/Summer the way I did so during the Winter Season, that is, to collect $10 per player at each home game.

Ever the Sportsmen, the Orangemen Fall to Metros

The Vienna Metros remain the top team in the NOVA Coaches League.  Their core, team familiarity, and commitment to passing the ball are unchanged.  The only weakness in the Vienna Metros that has ever been observed is the criticism they lodge at one another when they don’t attack a 50/50 ball and let their opposition win it in the air, or when they are put under pressure and their frustration begins to show.  The Orangemen put in a valiant effort and looked good for large portions of the game.  In fact at the start of the second half the Orangemen put so much pressure on them in their third of the field the they began to criticize one another.  That does a heart good when you hear it welling up from within their ranks.  We were unable to score, which would have frustrated them even more and could have produced the type of pressure we need to create mistakes on their part.  It was not meant to be.

The game finished without a break through.  The final was Orangemen nil and the Metro’s seven.  Not as bad as the defeat we suffered at the start of December when we dropped 10 unanswered goals and the ire of Mooch descended upon the team.  This effort, despite it’s lopsided nature, was much better because we did have some great passing moments, we did create opportunities, unlike in December when the Metro’s ran through us like a pinball machine.

Some highlights from the game include a wonderful free kick from Jose, that although swung wide, was very close and very well struck.  Also, Greg Z has improved his defensive awareness considerably.  Whereas two months ago he was left in his tracks only to wonder where the ball was going next on he played perhaps his best game ever against an attacking side with literally 30 plus more years experience, per player.  He was congratulated during our pizza and beer at Bertucci’s after the match.  

Along with those congratulatory words Jim Landoll pointed out that he had successfully made it through yet another season of soccer...and has all the intention of continuing into yet one more Spring/Summer season.

One final note of positive news, as the referee gave us his pregame lecture he made it clear to me that the Orangemen are one of his favorite teams to officiate.  He said that he never has a problem with the Orangemen.  More than any other team in the League the Orangemen exhibit not only a true love of the game but the spirit of sportsmanship that should be the hallmark of a recreational league.  That sportsmanship showed up on multiple occasions as we fessed up to balls that nicked us last etc.  I was never more proud to wear Orange when the ref spoke those words.  Thank's for making it easy to manage this team Orangemen...And I’m looking forward to the start of the Spring/Summer season.