Firecrackers Hold Off Agave

June 16th, 2008

The Firecrackers continued their race for first place in the division Monday, this time against Agave.  Locked in a tie with Soledad, a win was needed to keep pace.

The game was played at "The Bowl" (Watson Bowl), where the grass was long, but starting to turn green at least.  Mysteriously, two of the normal defenders, Will Race, and Devin Nelson were not at the game.  Eye witness reports have them together on a blanket in the park, sipping some shirley temples.  SJFirecrackers.com can't confirm these allegations, but they are from a credible source.

Anyway, the game started off very slow after a typical non-warmup.  About 10 minutes in, the Firecrackers would get what they needed to wakeup...the first goal.

David Ahlgren expertly swung in a cross that found John Basanese around the top of the 18 yard box.  John brought down the ball with his left foot and sent a half volley past the sprawled out 'keeper. 1-0 Firecrackers.

"Dave basically scored that one for me.  The ball was perfect, all I had to do was bring it down, and hit it hard," John said following the game.

The play would pick up following the goal, and Ronnie would add a goal just before halftime to make it 2-0.

At halftime, the team made minor adjustments around diving in, and turnovers in the transitional zone, and then headed back out.

Unfortunately, Agave came out charged up and scored to cut the lead in half.  The pressure continued, and Travis Bianchi made several key saves to preserve the lead.  Once the guys had weathered the storm, they began to pressure Agave again.

David Ahlgren finished a nice goal on an assist by Brandon Stirm that pushed the lead to 3-1 with about 15 minutes to play.

Agave would add a second tally a little later cutting the lead to 3-2.  That led to a very rare referee situation.

Agave scored again on a very obvious offside play.  The linesman raised his flag immediately to indicate the player was offsides.  Of course, this upset Agave who pressured the center ref into reconsidering the call.  After 10 minutes of discussion, the goal was disallowed, and the game continued!

As the game wound down, Stonehouse slotted a perfect ball to the top of the box where John Basanese one timed it home. 4-1 Firecrackers is how it would end!

It should be noted that defender Garret Ruiz, the man of the match, shut down two of the league's top defenders all day long!

The win pushes the Firecrackers' record to 7-1-1, and they will finish the season next week against Mundialito at Watson Bowl.  Mundialito tied the Firecrackers in the first half of the season, 3-3.  It will be a tough game! 

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