The Wildcats of KUA Defeat the Wildcats of VA in Season Closer
On Saturday we traveled down to Saxon River to play our last match of the season against Vermont Academy. This has been a bit of a tradition for Coach and me, though this time we were not a JV2 squad playing against a JV1 squad. The day was sunny but a good twenty degrees cooler than our first game of the year. It was the type of day that made you happy that the season was coming to an end. Despite the extra wool blankets and DownTek sleeping bags to wrap ourselves with, it was cold.
This season we have had some bumps in the road, some hiccups. The day after we determined the teams, Mica McGinley-Smith was put on the permanent Disabled List. Sam Lower soon followed, and then Yohan Do joined this trio after his Dodgeball mishap. And since JV2 didn’t have a goalie, Andrew Alexandresu stood in for most of their games. So, at best, (without small injuries, illnesses, college visits, or similar conflicts) we had fifteen players per match. The upside of this was everyone got to contribute and play.
And yet, the DL was not what affected our games the most. What we chronically suffered from was the inability - in the first five minutes of the game - to keep the opposing team out of our net. Even when we told the boys to pretend we were in the tenth minute when the first whistle blew, we seemed to unconsciously open a direct pathway toward our goal. And so, yet again it happened. Vermont Academy was able to move deep into our defensive end, go one-on-one with Andrew, and send a ground ball to the far post to place themselves on the board within the first thirty seconds of the game. It was a frustrating start, but one we were used to.
Thankfully, our boys are resilient, and by the end of the day, we had returned this shot six-fold. Perhaps this was our boys’ plan all along: lull VA into a false sense of confidence before we zeroed in. Cam Plume and Kohki Shinohara got us going with their exciting give-and-go passing up the left side. John Erwin and Jonathan Li proved themselves a formidable force, and within the first six minutes, we had outshot VA six to one. Then with only seven minutes spent, Cam sent a long pass up to John. He proceeds to deke the defender, get in close, and send the ball into the back of the net. We were tied 1-1.
For the next ten minutes, we saw the ball move back and forth, but the speed of Alisdair MacPhail, the solid, stoic attacks of Brian Lee, and the calculated cunning of Nick Wilder held Vermont to only one shot. This came from inside the box and Andrew was able to save it. Meanwhile Bridger Close took shots from both the left and right and Trong Phan blasted a hard one while falling to the ground. John, Jonathan, Cam, and Cody Nguyen set each other up for headers and attempts, but we were wide, high, or thwarted by the goalkeeper.
Finally, at the twenty-minute mark, John threw the ball in to Bridger, who displayed his classic backward head fake and spin, and he got the ball inside and sent it into the net to bring us ahead.
In the last twenty minutes, we saw great passing. Yohan Do assisted several shots and took a few himself. Amir Lesbek was dogged on defense at midfield and Will Haynes displayed his stealthy, silent attack from the backfield. We held VA to only four more shots, but these were close and scary. Andrew definitely exhibited his quick reflexes in close quarters. At the end of the half were up by one and had outshot VA 19 – 5.
VA regrouped after their halftime conference and came at us quickly and hard. They somehow got behind us, and if not for the incredible speed of Alisdair, most likely would have tied things up within the first two minutes. It was almost, as Coach tends to say, “Déjà vu all over again.” However, this time was were better prepared.
Tom Huang was also more focused during the second half and he passed the ball well and took several shots on net. Evan Crandlemire (who had yet another set of fans cheering, “Go Evan!”) played a smart and aggressive game. He moved the ball up to our forwards well.
The game was exciting and my notes read as follows:
Minutes Left
36 Alisdair saves what looks like a sure goal when the ball gets behind Andrew
32 Cam gets by Defense – pass back to Tom – shot -save
31 Tom shot – wide
30 Trong sends a pass to Cam in middle – shot – Defense deflects
Trong takes corner kick – Bridger shot – deflected out
Trong takes corner kick – keeper saves
29 Cody passes to Cam – shot low – save
Seconds later – Cam long shot to post – wide
28 Jonathan – corner kick to John – header just wide
26 Bridger shot – save
John shot – deflected wide
23 Cody long shot -wide
19 – John gets illegally tackled in the box – Penalty Kick – keeper deflects wide
18 Bridger shot at 18 – wide
17 Cody direct kick – Jonathan heads it off the post - save
14 John corner kick to Evan, shot – wide
12 Jonathan corner kick – John shoots left-footed – high
10 Trong long chip up to Cam – save
Cody long shot – high
9 John long shot -wide
John takes corner kick – Jonathan’s shot – wide
8 VA gets inside our box and shoots. Andrew makes a diving save and kicks it up the field ahead of John. John dribbles inside the box but is illegally stripped for the second time. He is awarded another Penalty Kick. This time he deftly places it to the right side as the keeper jumps to the left. We are up by two goals.
In the final minutes, we take four more shots that are either saved or go just wide. Vermont is allowed only one last-ditch effort from way outside and Andrew is able to scoop it up. At the final whistle, we were up 3-1 and had outshot VA 43 – 7. This statistic displays our aggressive play; however, it also shows that VA’s percentage of goals to shots was about six times greater than ours.
Either way, the game was over, we were excited to get warmed up, we were happy with how we played, and we were proud of our season. I have said this before, but this was a great team. We will certainly miss our veterans Nick Wilder, Will Haynes, Cody Nguyen, Cam Plume, Max van Dijk, and Jonathan Li. They were the heart of the team; they lead by example and made sure we all had fun.
While my stats are not perfect (I haven’t had time to look up assists), I do find them interesting. We ended the season 8 – 5 – 4 and we outscored our opponents 31 – 25. That gives Coach and me a twelve-year record of 93 – 49 – 18 and 585 – 384. But the most amazing thing is that the goals scored by our boys reflected their teamwork. If we take out the Micah and Sam because they were on the DL for most or all of the season, and forgive Yohan for missing over half of the games due to his dodgeball injury, and then subtract our two goalies, that leaves us with fourteen regular players. Of these fourteen, eleven scored goals this season! And the three who did not mostly played defense. Pretty incredible.
Trong 1
Kohki 1
Cody 1
Evan 1
Cam 2
Brian 2
Amir 3
Bridger 3
Tom 3
Jonathan 6
John 7
(the last goal was scored by a Proctor player)
So, with the close of this season, Coach Custer and I can finally pick those banished ties off their segregated rack, where they have hung dejectedly since our defeats against St. Paul’s, NMH, or Exeter, and reintroduce them into our general wardrobe. Finally freed, they’ll get a chance to bring better luck to our games next year.
This was a unique crew and one who will definitely be missed. We enjoyed working with them and look forward to working with the underclassmen next year. To the seniors, we wish them the best next year and hope they will stop by from time to time for a visit. They are always welcome back with our team.
