Evening Match at Proctor Sees Impressive Play

It was a bright, sunny day as our boys jogged out of their last class and made their way down to awaiting toasters which were ready to whisk them off for an evening match against Proctor Academy.  The boys were in good spirits.  Those in the “Loud Bus” cranked inspirational music to get themselves motivated, while others in the “Quiet Bus” chose silent meditation and Zen-like re-centering.  These two extremes, like yin and yang, came together on a turf field to face off against the Hornets for the first time this year.

 

Knowing that this would be our second of three games this week, Coach changed things up a bit.  He wanted to see how different combinations worked together.  The first change was putting Ian Surgenor and Alvaro Olivo together on the front line.  After only six minutes, we saw Ian feed Ryder Perry a pass.  Ryder followed up with a lead-pass up to Alvero.  Alvero was able to get behind the defense and faced the keeper one-on-one before sending a finesse shot into the net by the post.  We were up by one.

 

A minute later, we were in danger.  Proctor lofted a ball into our box and then a misguided header sent the ball back behind our defensive line where an attacking striker controlled it and blasted a shot at Bleyton Hopps-Thompson.  However, Bleyton was fast to react and shut down the drive.

 

The play was back and forth.  While Bleyton controlled his end of the field, we watched our forwards and midfielders take shots on goal:  Ryder’s shot went just above the bar.  Simon Nowlan’s long boot was saved.  Devon LeBlanc’s long shot was saved.  Dan Pimentel sped up the field to shoot, but his shot was also saved.  Dan sent a Direct Kick to Angus Spence who shot just wide of the net.  Then with eleven minutes left in the half, Dan passed a ball to Will Sewell who took a shot inside the box.  We were up by two.

 

Defensively, Eric Chung was an animal.  He shut down drive after drive.  Michael Jung and Jacob Hebbel, too, proved to be a daunting combination to Hornet strikers.  In addition, it was great to have Sebastian Keen and Tom Huang back with us on the field.  Sebastian, especially, displayed some fancy footwork before he cleared the ball out of our end.  Cho Man Bian, as always, was a stalwart and efficient defender.  They helped to keep Bleyton safe.  And then, with only seconds left in the half, Proctor made one more rush deep into our back line.  However, Bleyton was ready and he attacked the attacker, forcing the shot.  Bleyton deftly dove to make the final save in the half.

 

Minutes into the second half, Alvaro rushed up the field shadowed by a defender.  He took a shot and it went wide, but he set the tone for the half.  No one on our team was on the bench.  They were all on their feet cheering for their teammates.  Suddenly, Ian got the ball outside the box and blasted a rocket into the upper corner.  A cheer went up and we heard a loud voice yell.

 

There was certainly the excitement of a squall!

 

Again, the game went back and forth and Proctor kept Bleyton busy.  Mikey Winham had a great day at midfield and kept aggressively sending the ball up the line.  At the twenty-minute mark, Mikey blasted the ball from the 40-yard line.  Its power outweighed its accuracy, but it was an impressive blast.  Adi Lesbek was up front for the first time and skillfully fed the ball into the middle for attempts on net.  While Finn Bunk took only a couple of shots on net, he did successfully assist in moving the ball to others who took them. 

 

Proctor kept the attacks going.  They had some fast strikers; however, we had Aiden Bean.  Repeatedly, he was seen as a flash across the field.  He diverted or shut down each attack on net.  On one such attempt, he forced Proctor to shoot too soon and we earned a goal kick.  It was at the six-minute mark.  Bleyton “toed” the ball up the field to Matt Fussteig.  Matt spun around and saw Will racing down the field toward the goal.  Matt chipped it up to Will.  Will turned on the speed and sped past the last defender.  Then while facing the goalkeeper he skillfully tapped a finesse shot into the back corner.

 

Before the end of the game, we saw one of the most impressive plays ever witnessed.  Proctor’s #16, was deep in our end.  A teammate sent in a chip that was about to go across the end line.  He got a foot on the ball and kicked it high over his head and in front of the goal.  He ran in and headed his pass into our net.  It was amazing!  Unfortunately for him, the ball had crossed the end line before he kicked it, so the goal didn’t count.

 

Perhaps fitting for a team that would not give up, the last play of the game was another direct attack on Bleyton, but he was able, yet again, to come up with the ball.  All-in-all, it was a fine match-up.

 

Our next game is Saturday at 2:30 on the turf at home against Eaglebrook.