John Glenn @ NorthWood

John Glenn showed up late but made up for it by showing off their NASL reminiscent attire. The chain saw version of the national anthem was played for the first time.

FIRST HALF
The 5 o'clock kick off apparently suited the Falcons since they were able to get off two shots before the Panthers were even thinking about creating danger. In the 8th minute Ryan passed the ball to Seth outside the box and he took it in the box to take a shot. The shot disappeared in the right corner for the first, but not last, goal of the evening. In the 15th, Brandon German made a sublime pass to Seth who dribbled into space and at the goal. Seth's shot went in for the 2-0. In the 22nd minute of play, Lincoln took the ball to the end line and passed it back across the box to Nick. Nick was not able to finish it off. In the 32nd minute Cesar made a nice run on the right side but saw his shot hit the woodwork. NorthWood got another opportunity only a minute later when Maliq punted the ball far over the mid line to Seth who took it again at speed to goal and with a nice pass to goal put away John Glenn by scoring a pure soccer hat trick (3 goals uninterrupted by the opposing team by the same player in the same half). Ducky pointed out that this was his 25th career goal for NorthWood.

HALF TIME
Minor adjustments were discussed and the team was sent back in the meadow to finish off the opponents. Balogh warmed up to get ready to take over for Maliq.

SECOND HALF
The officiating crew was better then last year. Not that they were good or great by any stretch of the imagination. The center ref did okay and Jake and the Fat man on the sidelines were oblivious to most soccer rules particularly when it came to the off side rule. Lincoln might have had a hat trick himself were it not for the times he was called off side when he was not. It took only one minute into the second half for NorthWood to pick up where it left off in the first half. A Maliq punt/assist to St. Germain resulted in a run at goal. Ben went one on one with the back up of the back up goalie and scored his first goal of the campaign and NorthWood's fourth goal of the game. In the 53rd minute Lincoln made a run on the left side of the field and Ben St. Germain felt he had it today. With a passionate cry of "Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln", he was practically begging for the ball. The ball ended up near Seth who took a shot and off the rebound, St. Germain scored (and wounded the GK). After a Lincoln shot on the crossbar, followed by a Barahona (who had a good night with clean & crisp passing all night long) shot on the horizontal bar, the ball ended up in front of Moseman who connected for his first of the game and second of the season, 6-0. In the 64th, Maliq entered the game with the unique #2"1" on his jersey, at least for a while. In the 68th minute, John Glenn, with power forwards/wide receivers # 47, #40 and # 70 (!) on the offense got a great opportunity close to the goal. Number 40 shot what looked to be a sure goal. Michael Balogh however, made a great save (the save of the night) to preserve the shutout. This would be only the 2nd shut out of the season, both are combined shut outs where both GK's played in the game. The party was not over. Pancho Villllllaaaaaaaa saw a cross deflection go in the Glenn goal for his first varsity goal, 7-0. After some pathetic begging on the bench from Lincoln, he was allowed back in the game to boost his stats. He did not disappoint. After faking out three Glenn defenders, his shot touched the ropes for the final score 8-0.

NOTES
Next up is Concord (away), JV at 10, Varsity at 11:45.

Fortunately referee Humphrey was on the sideline. He showed improvements from a year ago altough his Under Armour might disagree. I swear I heard his Under Armour scream in pain when he was trying to take it off after the game.Note to self: Man, that stuff does not look good on fat people.

John Glenn is in our sectional as are Bremen and LaVille. On that note, the sectional draw is this coming monday at 8 a.m..