On a nice and sunny (or "sunny and bright" as statman Jacob noted it in "the book")evening we attempted first of all to watch the JV play the early game thru all the thick and tall grass. The grass was left intentionally high so it could soak up the fertilizer or as we at NW call it: geese droppings.
FIRST HALF
NorthWood would start yet another lineup mainly due to the numerous injuries that have plagued the team troughout the season. Taylor would have to sit on the bench with a mild concussion. Luckily, Connor was available and did start at center mid. The first 15 minutes or so saw the play go back and forth with some minor attempts at shots at goal. The Panthers would give up 5 (!) corners in this time frame but in general it seemed like the team had paid attention to the pre-game talk to attack the ball in the box. Most balls were cleared out or dealt with by Kyle in the goal. In the 20th minute, Josh crosses a ball high into the box from the left side of the field. The ball makes its way to Eusebio who is running into the right top of the box. His first attempt at controlling the ball is not a good one but his second one is. He then shoots the ball hard (!!!!!!!!!) to the near post to connect for the 1-0! NW deserves the lead, they control the ball and possess the ball for the majority of the time. Memorial is a counterattacking team who does not like to possess the ball too long. As soon as they have the ball, they look to play the ball long and direct to goal.
In the 23rd, Bennett Parker and Tim Escoto enter the game. Six minutes later, the Chargers create an opportunity near the box and the shot requires a good save from Kyle.
HALF TIME
There is not too much to adjust at the half. Coaches again stress the fact that Memorial plays the counter attack only thru the middle and that Eusebio and Josh are open on the outside all the time.
SECOND HALF
Memorial substitutes its keeper who, after a Coach Duerksen complaint, needs to change his attire so he does not imitate NorthWood players. Memorial starts out offensively by going to their wings. In the 46th, a Chargers attack includes an overlap and hard shot but the effort is stopped by Kyle. In the 59th minute of play, Tim gets possession of the ball in the offensive third and makes a smart pass out to Noodle on the outside who, in turn, crosses the ball thru and in the box to Josh. He plays the ball around the keeper and places the ball in the net to extend the lead to 2-0.
In the 68th, Memorial tries to individually create chances by dribbling at us in our box. The Memorial midfielder dribbles past at least 2 Panther defenders before being leveled by Eusebio (who has now done two things in one game we didn't think could happen -1. took a hard shot to score and 2. level someone hard)inside the 18. The ref immediately points at the PK tee (yes, they actually have a tee at the PK spot unless it is a target for geese arse kabobs). Memorial misses the PK by shooting it over, which at this point preserves the lead and shut out. A few minutes later Kyle has to punch the ball out of the 18 after a Memorial corner (#9) comes to close to the goal. In the 75th the Panthers get their last shot at Memorial but Memorial would wait til after the final whistle to get their last shot at NorthWood. As time expires, Memorial #14 takes out Noodle with a cheap shot. Surely it was a frustrating Senior Night for Memorial but this foul warranted a red card. The referee (who actually did a great job during the game) admitted later he should have yellow carded the kid but in my mind that would have been too lenient. All the hispanic players started talking about how they beat us in "club" (we don't have any players who play them in club) and Coach Duerksen's response to them was : "Scoreboard!". Obviously NW was the much better team tonight and the win guarantees the Panthers another winning season.
NOTES
The Varsity improved its record to 9-4 overall (3-2NLC). Next up is the home game against Concord this Saturday (11:45 am start).
The 2-0 win is the 5th shut out of the season.
The JV was not able to duplicate their last performance against Memorial and was defeated 8-1 with the lone goal coming from Brandon Shields. Alex had to deal with a missed header/faceball that knocked him on his back but he was able to recover from the incident, eventually.
The JV plays Concord on Saturday as well, their game starts at 10 am.
The JV record stands at 3-9-1.
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