Wildcats Defend Well and Take the Win on Family Weekend
On Friday afternoon the boys filed down the hill ready to battle against Tilton School. The big questions were, “Where are they? Are they coming?” Coach Custer and I assured them that Tilton was en route, but even we became a little nervous when the clock clicked closer to 4:20 and the black toasters had yet to arrive. But arrive they did, with just enough time to get in a very quick warm-up. Since the kickoff was so late in the day, we agreed to play only thirty-five-minute halves with only five minutes between. It was either agree or play in the dark.
Even though three other games were going on simultaneously, our crowd was larger than usual. I’d love to say that it was our level of play, smashing attractiveness, and overall charisma, but the truth was – it was Family Weekend and our parents were there to watch (even my dad!).
After our disappointing defeat against NMH, where we insisted on being scored upon within the first two minutes of each half, we knew we needed to focus and come up with a better plan. “We start this game five minutes in” Coach demanded. He drew a few blank faces. He repeated, “We start five minutes in.” He explained that we needed to jump into the game full tilt and mentally ready. There could be no time to wind up slowly. This had been our problem against St. Paul’s and NMH. We started slowly and let in goals within the first two minutes of each half. It couldn’t happen today!
Tilton came off the bench as if annoyed by the long drive over. They quickly took possession and rushed up into our end of the field. Within the first three minutes, Max van Dijk was busy. He saved two nice headers shot by the attacking Rams. We kept them from scoring, but we were only doing half of what was required. We, too, needed to shoot the ball. For twenty minutes the play looked like a pinball machine without the control. The ball moved back and forth by long kicks, and the scene was reminiscent of third-grade recess soccer. Thankfully, or defensive line of Cody Nguyen, Alisdair MacPhail, Brian Lee, Will Haynes, and Nick Wilder either kept Tilton from shooting inside or shut down each rush completely. We were also finally getting in close. Trong Pham sent a beautiful lead pass up to John Erwin and inside, but the keeper dove to save it. Later Jonathan Li slid a pass up to Amir Lesbeck who sent a shot across the net, but it went wide. As the time ticked down on the half, Evan Crandlemire and Tom Huang both got in close and tried their skills against the goalkeeper, but both attempts were thwarted. Even Yohan Do, finally back from his Dodge Ball injury, could not “swim” in close enough to get the ball past this keeper. So, as the half time whistle blew, we had kept Tilton from scoring, but the game remained 0-0.
At the half, we regrouped and agreed that we were building momentum but needed to control the ball better. Too many trapped balls were getting away from us and we were not controlling our passes as we should. We also agreed to enter play as if we were five minutes in. And so, we took the field knowing that the next goal would be huge.
Tilton had maintained the offensive attack throughout the first two-thirds of the first half. If not for the Herculean efforts of Will and Nick, Max would have been exhausted. But we had begun to find our rhythm and we could hear and see the frustration from the Tilton side. The Rams had drawn a few warnings and one card, but they kept us from scoring. Minutes into the second half, Jonathan received a pass from Alisdair and attempts to rush up the middle. He is raked ten feet within the box, but for some reason, the direct kick is moved to just outside. Jonathan’s kick was deflected by the keeper and a melee ensues, but Tilton was able to clear it. Jonathan was not happy, so four minutes later he made a second attempt after receiving the ball from Trong. He got behind the defensive line, faced the goalie one-on-one and tapped a finesse shot to the far post. We were up by one and Jonathan’s parents were ecstatic.
KUA kept the pressure on. The passing between Kohki Shinohara, Trong, John, Jonathan, and Alisdair produces multiple shots that kept the Ram’s keeper very busy. Yet, although, we had begun to dominate the play in their end, Tilton continued to make drives deep into ours. Max had two amazing saves from hard crosses. As the end of the half became increasing closer, desperation was running high and things were getting a bit rough. Nick’s constant ability to shut down offensive drives finally lead to him being thrown to the ground. The whistle blew, but while I believed that such a strategy was “minor league” and a card needed to be issued, the officials didn’t appreciate my input. I was warned. We were in the final minutes, but we didn’t know exactly how many seconds remained. Tilton got in and blasted what looked like a sure goal, but Max reached out in a Superman dive and, with the tips of his fingers, redirected the ball outside the post. With maybe ten seconds left, Tilton again got in close and shot one final time, but Max was there to hug the ball in close.
The final whistle blew, and the boys proved once more that they had the grit, determination, skill, and fortitude to fight into the very last seconds of the game. Hopefully, the boys will have a good rest over the long weekend but will (without practice) be ready to face off against Cardigan Mountain School at 2:30 at home on Wednesday.
