Déjà Vu All Over Again

Even before we stepped onto the field, we had two strikes against us: our Disabled List included Ollie Cozzi, and the SATs claimed Tom Huang, Jacob Rimberg, and Kohki Shinohara. We had two subs.  On the positive side, we got to travel by coach bus, we would dine on pizza before heading home, it was a beautiful day, and we knew that everyone would get plenty of playing time.

 

From the opening whistle, we moved the ball pretty well.  The artificial turf presented a bit of a learning curve, but we kept the ball within their half of the field; however, just as White Mountain kept us out of the eighteen, so did Cushing.  We’d work the ball up the field and then lose it, just to watch them boot it back up to half.

 

At the ten-minute mark, Cushing got into our third of the field.  Michael Jung had the ball and was facing keeper Mario Espurz Garcia.  As a striker attacked Michael from behind, Mario called for the ball.  Michael, who is one of our most powerful kickers, tapped the ball back with not enough power (he needs to work on his short game).  The speedy striker was able to get ahold of the ball and come in close enough to finesse a tap to the corner.  Just as we were against White Mountain, we were dominating but we had let the opposition score the first goal.

 

We pressed on.  Then Simon Nowlan sent a chip into Trong Phan on a corner kick.  Trong took the shot but the keeper grabbed it.  A minute later, Trong and Conrad Lopez Moss worked a give-and-go up the middle then passed out to Amir Leskek, but his shot went wide. Will Stedina, who within the whole game would send in six of our nine corner kicks, blasted a long shot that went wide.

 

Meanwhile, the defensive line of Cam Barton, Michael Jung, Jacob Hebbel, and Brian Lee were doing an outstanding job.  Cam and Brian used calm reserve in successfully thwarting multiple drives up the sides while Michael and Jacob dogged the center strikers time and time again.  They were relentless.

 

Then with only 8:22 left in the half, we committed, in the words of Will Stedina, our second “error.”  Cushing got behind our defense and Mario came out to meet them.  He deflected the first shot out to the corner, but couldn’t get back into position before the right-wing sent a slow chip over him and the leftwing was able to tap it in with a simple header at the far post.  They were up by two.

 

From then on until the end of the half, Cushing got in close only twice.  Amir took a shot that went wide.  Adi Lesbek followed this up with a sweet cross to Trong and Trong’s shot went wide.  We were shooting, but we still couldn’t narrow in on the net.

 

At the halftime talk, Coach Custer described the first goal as a “series of bad luck” and the second as “great execution” on the part of the Penguins.  But, he insisted, Cushing had only taken two “real shots” all half.  “We are out-working them” with our passes, but they “are great at the dump-and-run.”  He encouraged the boys and applauded the hustle and drive on the field despite the lack of rest.

 

Except for the first minute, when we looked like we were sleepwalking, we pressed hard again.  Will Sewell set up great passes that led to shots by Ian and Conrad.  In the back, Mario made two amazing diving saves from up close.

 

Then with twelve minutes left in the half, Coach sent Jacob Hebbel up to the front line to see if his added presence would encourage us to get on the board.  We got in close and earned two more corner kicks.

 

With fewer than nine minutes left in the game, Cushing employed the dump-and-run tactic that had proven successful twice before.  A very fast sticker got behind us again.  Mario had to attack.  Unfortunately, the striker chipped the ball lazily over his head and Cushing was up by three. 

 

Although this was heartbreaking, the boys kept working as hard as they were able.  Mario made two more in close, one-on-one attacks, but in the end, we could not put the ball into the net.  The boys were upset with the loss, but we had to compliment them on how hard they played with very little rest. 

 

The teamwork of the boys was impressive and encouraging.  We just need to work on adjusting our scopes so we are better able to shoot at the net.  Hopefully, when we face off against St. Paul’s this Wednesday at home, we will be fired up to shoot and score – I’m done with the Déjà vu business.