Stats from the spring season

Congratulations to Chris, our boy from Baltimore, who wins the prestigious Goleros scoring title. Per our tradition, he wins $1 off next season's dues. Unless the Goleros are still playing in 2050, no player is ever likely to approach his overall points total. He's our Jaime Moreno. And we love him. Let's collectively thank our good friend for his dedication to team. The guy rides his motorcycle all the way down from Baltimore to run with us on Sundays.

We have a decent point spread this season. Fewer women on the board than in past seasons. We'll have to get you ladies the ball a little more. Also, I think Ermy's points weren't fully captured. The data isn't complete because I'm missing a game or two. That might account for the steep drop off in points following Chris, Jon, and Adrian. Also, Chip, didn't you get some points?

Chris "El Niño" - 15 pts on 6 goals and 3 assists

Jon "Bubbles" - 9 pts on 3 goals and 3 assists

Adrian - 8 pts on 4 goals and no assists, with one yellow

Ermy - 3 pts on 1 goal and 1 assist

Meg - 3 pts on 1 goal and 1 assist

Nate "Gumby" - 3 pts on 1 goal and 1 assist

Ally "Alligator" - 2 pts on 2 assists

Ashley "Smash" - 2 pts on 1 goal

Jer - 2 pts on 2 assists

Griz "Grizzy" - 1 pt on 1 assist

Kate L. - 1 pt on 1 assist

De - 1 pt on 1 assist

Don't forget the usual, but important, disclaimer that these are just offensive stats. They don't indicate a player's value and they totally exclude those of us in the midfield, defense, and goal who do our best to set the team up for success. It's one of the rare things we can quantify and it's interesting to look back. Their success is our success and vice versa.

Spring 2009

It's time to remember Spring 2009. Have any good memories of the season? Share them here!

We closed a roller coaster season with a competitive match versus the Flirts in the semifinals of the playoffs. We lost 4-0, giving the Flirts a 3-2 advantage versus our team lifetime, including two wins in the advanced rounds of the playoffs. Everybody knows that we played well in the first half, and that it was generally a good showing. We were plagued by the same problems we faced all season - inability to hold and possess the ball, ineffective use of space, yielding of counterattacks, and lack of depth to spell our tired players! When we pushed up, we paid the price. Hey, we'll work on it. No big thing, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and the season as a whole.

Here's our record:

SPRING 2009 (.500 w/ playoff appearance)

-------------------

L, 6-5 vs DC Thunder on 3/29

W, 4-3 vs Armory on 4/5

W, 3-2 vs Tsunami on 4/19

L, 4-0 vs Diplomats on 5/3

W, 2-1 vs Flirts on 5/10

L, 7-3 vs Little Urban Achievers on 5/31

L, 6-2 vs Capital Crew on 6/7

W, 3-2 vs Gang Green on 6/14

-----------------------

PLAYOFFS

L, 4-0 vs Flirts on 6/21 (semis)

It was a success. We finished with a 4-4 regular season record (.500), placing 4th in a highly competitive division of 10 teams, and earning a semifinal playoff berth versus the top seed. What characterizes our season is the number of goals we gave up (31, plus 4 in the playoffs) and the fact that we were not competitive in three of our matches (4-1 loss to the Diplomats, a 7-3 loss to Little Urban Achevers, and a 6-2 loss versus the unsportsmanlike Capital Crew). Your captains are working on strategy to ensure this doesn't happen in the fall. You have to like our group, no matter what the result is. I really look forward to Sunday soccer.

Don't forget the highlights. We had two happy fun happy hours.

Adrian's favorite spot in Ballston

We also beat two of the top teams, Flirts and Gang Green, during the regular season. And we got a nice win versus Armory in which Ally called in some reinforcements and got that job done short-handed. In this league, every win counts. Each week, we have to show up, and each minute of a close game we have to concentrate.

A is for attitude; D is for defense

The division was quite competitive. Every team had a least one loss and several teams were in danger of relegation with as many as 3 wins - until all the chips fell in the last game. Here are the final standings:

CSL>Second Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Capital Crew	6	1	1	8	19	35	19	16	2.0
2		Flirting With Sobriety	5	2	1	8	16	24	11	13	1.6
3		Gang Green	4	3	1	8	13	20	13	7	0.9
4		Goleros	4	4	0	8	12	22	31	-9	-1.1
5		Lost Tourists	3	3	2	8	11	16	16	0	0.0
6		The Diplomats	3	3	2	8	11	22	29	-7	-0.9
7		Armory	3	4	1	8	10	18	22	-4	-0.5
8		Little Urban Achievers	2	4	2	8	8	22	24	-2	-0.3
9		DC Thunder	2	5	1	8	7	21	27	-6	-0.8
10		Tsunami Naranja	2	5	1	8	7	14	22	-8	-1.0

Capital Crew won the regular season. They are headed to the first division. Good riddance. The Flirts, due to their strategic play, will also head to first division. They won the playoffs (they're on facebook, I got the update there). DC Thunder and our friends at Tsunami had a tougher stretch. DC Thunder is a real mystery. My guess is that their key striker, Roland, only shows up for some games. Remember that guy put in 4 against us in a game in which we played pretty well actually? How did they only win 2 games? Hmmm, perhaps I'll do a more fulsome promotion/relegation report later.

Great season everyone! Check back later this week for a post on our stats.

No longer a bachelor

At this very moment, Georgie boy is getting married to Megan. They met at work, proving that there is apparently an upside to being an auditor at a major accounting firm.

Three cheers for the happy couple!

George, it took a lot to tame you but it has been done!

The festivities are being held in Charlottesville, and our own Carlitos is there. We'll expect a full report tomorrow from our man at the scene.

On Tuesday, George and Megan are headed to the Bahamas for their honeymoon.

All the best from the team!

It's Goleros vs Flirts

I haven't followed developments in the division, but according to Jer's email, we're playing Flirts tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. at Trinity. This could possibly mean that Capital Crew's game versus DC Thunder was canceled and the Flirts won the division on goal differential or another metric. Don't know.

Does anyone know?

Anyway, we have a good rivalry with the Flirts. We've beaten them by narrow margins in some key games, and they've opened up some good leads against us in other games. I believe we are 2-2 and lifetime.

Here's to a sportsmanlike game!

Scheduling issues

Two important scheduling announcements:

1. Playoff game this sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Trinity. Jer is running the RSVPs this week. He needs to hear from everyone, so email him now please (jvanderlan AT yahoo DOT com).

2. Coed classic is on for the original weekend, July 25-26th.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Before/after

Someone took some funny shots of Carolyn and I at a recent happy hour. There's the serious shot of two urban professionals. Then, there's the after shot - it looks like we've had a few drinks and have loosened up a bit.

Funny.

Fan appreciation

Check out these photos of our fans this season. We've got the greatest fans! Seriously, it's so great to have so many friends and family around. We are really fortunate.

Future Golero

Our most loyal fans

She came back for the first game

Ally's Clan

I foresee an evening game

As you know from email, I'm taking your scheduling requests for the playoffs. Please get them to me today. It's likely that we'll be short on numbers no matter what so I want to give us the best chance possible.

I'm guessing the league will schedule us for a night game. The reason is that Capital Crew and DC Thunder play the last makeup game on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Thus, the scheduler will probably give them the full 24 hours to recover. I foresee us in the 8:00 p.m. slot at George Mason High School.

Goleros finish 4th, will face either the Flirts or Capital Crew in the playoffs

We have finished 4th in the Division, which is a substantial gain in the standings in the last weekend of games. We were 4-4, a .500 record.

We will face the 1st seed in the playoffs. The winner will play for the playoff championship the next weekend. The Flirts are currently sitting in first, but Capital Crew has a game to play versus DC Thunder. It's the only outstanding game on the schedule in our division. It means nothing for our standings but everything for the Crew, the Flirts, and DC Thunder. DC Thunder must win to avoid relegation, and if they do win, the Flirts win the division and claim promotion to the First Division. Capital Crew must win or tie in order to claim the division title and be promoted. Go DC Thunder!

What a competitive division. You rarely see teams with 7-8 points get relegated. Usually, it's fewer than 6.

CCSL>Second Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Flirting With Sobriety	5	2	1	8	16	24	11	13	1.6
2		Capital Crew	5	1	1	7	16	30	19	11	1.6
3		Gang Green	4	3	1	8	13	20	13	7	0.9
4		Goleros	4	4	0	8	12	22	31	-9	-1.1
5		Lost Tourists	3	3	2	8	11	16	16	0	0.0
6		The Diplomats	3	3	2	8	11	22	29	-7	-0.9
7		Armory	3	4	1	8	10	18	22	-4	-0.5
8		Little Urban Achievers	2	4	2	8	8	22	24	-2	-0.3
9		DC Thunder	2	4	1	7	7	21	22	-1	-0.1
10		Tsunami Naranja	2	5	1	8	7	14	22	-8	-1.0

Adrian propels team into the playoffs with 90' goal

It wasn't pretty, but the result was important and the teamwork was memorable. We steadily ramped up our effort and finally emptied the tank of our under-manned opponent, Gang Green.

Coming from behind, we scored two goals in the last 3 minutes: a superb finish off a rebound by Meg, to secure the tie, and an extra-time volley to the far post by Adrian, for the 3-2 win.

Credit to Gang Green. They came up short by only a minute, after scoring one goal with 8 players, another with 9 players, and then showing great long-ball and one-on-one skills to keep us on our heels.

But we didn't give up. I think we did more running and found each others' feet a little better. Our female players were really involved in the attack, which was crucial. Let's not forget Heather's goal, called back on an offensive foul by Adrian.

That was fun.

What did we do right?

Did anyone get the assist on that first goal?

Ty was in reserve

Notes: 3-2 win vs Gang Green on 6/14/09, National Mall. Goals by: Chris (Jer), Meg (Jon), Adrian (unassisted). GK: George. Discipline: Adrian (yellow for dissent).

Lost Tourists defeat Little Urban Achievers in makeup game; Goleros secure 2nd division slot for next season

Believe it or not, it was statistically possible for us to be relegated to Third Division going into this weekend's fixtures. This was because the teams below us suddenly began winning at the end of the season while we remained static at 3 wins. Usually, 3 wins is enough to avoid relegation. Despite the fierce competition in the division, it will be enough again this season.

We needed either Little Urban Achievers or DC Thunder to lose this weekend, to avoid giving us a must-win situation and possibly going to tie-breakers. LUC lost to Lost Tourists 1-0. Thus, LUC finishes with 8 points; Tsunami finishes with 7 points. Both teams are guaranteed to place below us. We currently have 9 points, with the opportunity to pick up more in our last game.

We can now focus on having fun. BTW, a win will probably put us in the playoffs. We even have a chance at a decent seed.

Yet another playoff plan

If we somehow eke into the 4th spot, we'll have a chance at promotion if we can win two playoff games. The top 4 seeds will play for promotion.

Our focus this week is not on the playoffs, however, but on our on-the-field product. We need to string together some passes and get a rhythm.

ok so with all the emails Ive received its obvious you guys are passionate
about playoffs & promotion/relegation. Its nice to see quite
honestly.

What Ive decided to do is change how we are going to do
playoffs to allow for others aside from just the top two seeds to get promotion.
So instead, were going to try and eke out some more field space on the 28th and
give one additional round for the top 4 seeds. The 5 & 6 seeds will
still get the additional playoff game for bragging rights.

June
21st 1v4 and 2v3
June 28th Championships and 5v6

Hopefully
this appeases a lot of your concerns. Lets all do our anti-rain dances so
that we wont have any more rainouts this weekend and we can keep these plans to
wrap up this season.

thanks!!

Sanjay

Playoffs truncated

Due to many rain cancellations this season, the league doesn't have the time or field space to schedule playoffs over two weekends. Thus, the commish is truncating the playoffs. See his email below.

Hey all,

I wanted to give you an update on where we stand with
getting the Spring season wrapped up. The rain has just wreaked havoc on
our schedule this season. I think I read that there has been 20 inches of
rain since the end of March. Just insane...

So to get the
season wrapped up before the summer starts (July 4th weekend) we are going to
have to truncate playoffs. We are trying to get the last of the rainouts
from last weekend scheduled before the weekend of the 20th. We will then
only have a single round of playoff games on June 21st and June 28th. The
plan is for the 5 seed to play the 6 seed & the 4 seed to play the 3
seed. These games will be June 21st (fingers crossed). Then we would
hold the championships on June 28th where each divisions 1 and 2 seeds would
play.

If games this weekend are also canceled, we will need to
reevaluate this plan as well and may have to truncate even
further.

We hate to have to cut the season short, but Im sure you
all are well aware of the scheduling constraints that we've had. I want to
specifically thank Lou for working his magic to try and work things out as
amicably as possible and to Jesse for his flexibility in always being able to
get full ref crews on short notice. Also thanks to you all for your
flexibility throughout this season.

Please let me know if anyone
has questions or concerns.

thanks!

Sanjay
CCSL
Commissioner

Happy hour this week!

Don't forget our happy hour tomorrow night at Union Jack's in the Ballston Mall!



Happy hour last week was a nice end to the week - and fun! We enjoyed drinks and some mezze at Cava, one of the many bars and restaurants in the area designed by Griz. He says they didn't intend it to have such a bar scene, which explains the narrow bar area. Sure, the bar space is small, but what great colors and seclusion from the street! Very cool atmosphere. Another fine job by our original Golero!




I love this photo of Adrian and Heather.

Here are a few others:

Thursday, June 11 @ 6:30 pm BE THERE ARE BE SQAURE!!!

Hey Team,


So after last Friday's RAGER of a Happy Hour at CAVA, we have decided to have another one, this Thursday, June 11 at Union Jacks in the Ballston Mall. Let's try and meet by 6:30 pm.


Adrian, Peter and I will be there so if you want in on this trio of fun let us know.


Many thanks and hope you are all having a great week!


Ally

A "thank you"

Last week, you saw our charitable donation go through.  This week, we got a note from Kate Larned at United for DC, thanking us for the donation.  Thought I would pass it along.  It provides a nice update of what the organization is doing and how our modest contributions are helping.  Check out United for DC's website here.

Best wishes to Kate and her team - and keep up the good work! 

Hi Peter and Ally,

 

Sara is no longer working at D.C. United- she left to be a full-time mom. I have been working here for almost two years and have taken over running the foundation since Sara left. I can't tell you how much we appreciate your support over the years- especially in economic times such as these. The check arrived late last week so I will have your charitable receipt to you this week.

 

Our year has been going pretty well. We just finished our second set of spring reading visits at our six adopted D.C. schools. The children completed a three-week reading challenge and all got excited for summer reading (as farfetched as that seems). As well, United Soccer Club just finished up its spring after-school soccer program. And our next fundraiser- the golf tournament- is coming up on July 9th. So as you can tell things are moving right along.

 

It has been a tough year for finding sponsors and donations so your contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Kicks for Kids program in particular is struggling to find support but your donation alone will help us bring out seven kids to experience a game that otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity.

 

Again, thank you for keeping us in mind. We hope to see you at an event soon.

 

Best,

Kate

Who had points?

We lost last night by a disappointing and surreal score of 6-2. We fought hard, that much I'm sure of. We're going to leave it on the field and prepare for our next game, an important one versus Gang Green.

Who had the goals and assists?

Notes: 6-2 loss to Capital Crew on 6/7/09, National Mall. Goals: Jon (Chris), Ashley? (?). GK: George.

Game on today

Weather is taking its toll

The league played a lot of games on grass this spring, which means we were vulnerable to rain.  And it rained.  So there have been a lot of cancelations.  Tomorrow's game is in jeopardy.  Make sure to check the inclement weather line before you go.  

This also means that the playoffs will probably be truncated.  That would mean that each team would only play one playoff game.  It would be #1 seed vs #2, #3 vs #4, and #5 vs #6.  The lower seeds play for fun.  Only the top two teams play for promotion.  We'll see how it turns out.  The commish has yet to make the call.

Regular season entering the final stretch

Despite our lopsided and frustrating loss last weekend, we remain in contention for the playoffs.  Check out the standings:

CCSL>Second Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Flirting With Sobriety	4	1	1	6	13	21	7	14	2.3
2		Gang Green	4	1	1	6	13	17	7	10	1.7
3		Capital Crew	4	1	0	5	12	20	13	7	1.4
4		Armory	3	3	1	7	10	17	19	-2	-0.3
5		Goleros	3	3	0	6	9	17	23	-6	-1.0
6		The Diplomats	2	3	2	7	8	19	27	-8	-1.1
7		Tsunami Naranja	2	4	1	7	7	12	19	-7	-1.0
8		Little Urban Achievers	1	3	2	6	5	18	20	-2	-0.3
9		DC Thunder	1	3	1	5	4	15	18	-3	-0.6
9		Lost Tourists	1	3	1	5	4	8	11	-3	-0.6

We close out the season against the #2 and #3 teams.  It won't be easy to keep our playoff spot, but my money is on Goleros!

Here's a question - what happened to DC Thunder?  They had a LOT of offense in our opening match.  Then, they seemingly dropped off.  Same thing happened last season.  We played a really close game against them and then they headed to the bottom of the division.  I wonder if they have attendance issues.

Note that our opponent this weekend, Capital Crew, is in strong shape.  They have some new talented players that we'll have to mark effectively and disrupt in the midfield.  With a 4-1 record and a game in hand, they are probably thinking division title.  

They have to play us first.

Game notes: 7-3 loss to Little Urban Achievers on 5/31/09 at Trinity.  Goals by Jon (Ally), Nate (Griz, Jon), Adrian (unassisted).  GK: George.

Make sure to comment if you have more information for the game notes.