Agave go down without much of a fight

Date: 09-08-08

by Travis Bianchi (Captain's log)

 I think Agave should look back at that game last night and be thankful it was only 3 – 0.  We had so many quality scoring opportunities that it should have been more like 8 – 0!  As I recall they only had one shot on frame and the rest of the time I spent hobbling around on a newly acquired gimpy knee thanks to a CAA scrimmage against the Firecrackers.

As usual, this game was won right from the beginning in the mid field.  The only difference in this game was that there wasn’t even a 5 minute window that we gave up control there.  The defense was moving back and forth very well not allowing any gaps between them and the mids and Garret, playing stopper, was able to push up as more of a defensive mid fielder and help on some of the scoring chances.  Rich anchors our back line and makes my life very easy winning all of the balls in the air and outrunning any forward they throw at us.  So much so that even when it looks like the ball is coming all the way back to me I hesitate thinking he is just going to get it anyway.  The combination of Rich, Garret, Will and Tone provided more than enough to secure our 4^th shut out in 5 games.

 Offensively we had 3 different guys that could have had 3 goals each last night.  The ball was well distributed through our center mids and fed to both sides of the field equally.  Most of the teams we play against have the same patterns and use the same player making it easier for us to shut down their attack.  I noticed last night that we were using both sides and involving anyone that was up there to keep them off balance.  They tried to keep their main guy, Junior, in the back for most of the game to limit our scoring and give their offense a chance.  After it was 2 – 0 they changed that around, put him up top and just tried to get a goal.  This opened up their defense even more for us and did very little for them on our end.

 Stirm had a couple of great goals, both in the corners, and Deqine and Jenkins had excellent chances that narrowly missed.  I can’t remember who scored the third but that was the dagger and Agave was done after that.  To their credit it never turned into the hack fest that most of these games become when we start winning.  We of course heard the obligatory “Jello Car Ref!” but it only worked on Dave.

 Next week we play a team that is new in the league and it appears that they may be out of place.  They are getting hammered by everyone (Agave beat them 8 – 0) so they must be looking forward to playing us!  Might be time to dust off my yellow field jersey!!

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