Discounted DCU tickets for all

There are only a few die hard DCU fans on the team. It's too bad, cause the games are a lot of fun, and pretty cheap for professional sporting events.

The league has a deal on DCU tickets. Our deal allowed Carlos and Anna to get 2-for-1 tickets to last Thursday's match ($9 each!).

Use this link to get your discounted tickets to all games - and they also offer packages from time to time. We picked up our tickets to the LA Galaxy and MLS Cup games there.

https://secure.mlsnet.com/t103/tickets/2007/groups/season/index.jsp?code=ccsl

Pick up this week

Can you solve this equation?

Good weather + bye week + love of soccer - belly fat = ______.

The answer is pick up soccer. Let's keep our touches and get a little pick up game going this week. We're thinking Wednesday on the Mall after work (5:30-6). Drop a comment to let us know your preference.

All-star game?

The midpoint in the season has arrived and it's our bye week.

Let's call it the all-star break.

Vote for your Goleros all stars here. Choose 2 players, one man and one woman, who should be the Goleros all-star representatives for our hypothetical all-star game. Use any criteria that you'd like. Most saves, MVP, most appearances, worst attitude, most blog entries not read.

While there are rec leagues that actually have all-star games, ours doesn't. This isn't real.

DCU vs "The Other Chivas"

Since you don't have a Goleros game this week, perhaps you'll support the DCU. They play "the other Chivas" on Sunday at 3pm at RFK. If you've been following the United, you know that Chivas de Guadelajara put a major dent in our pride. In the Champions Cup, we faced them in the semi finals and they beat us in a home-and-home series. We headed into the first game of the MLS season with a difficult loss in Mexico, where no MLS club has won a match. Then DCU lost three straight games, falling way short of expectations and actually creating a crisis on defense and the coaching staff.

Tonight at RFK, the team earned its first point versus the Revs. Carlos, Anna, and maybe others were there. Perhaps the team is on the mend?

Your captain is hoping to make the game, although he's got another rec game at 2pm. Decisions, decisions!

Goal

George, I don't want to tell you how to do your job as goalie, but I recommend against this kind of distribution. Watch this video.

Graduation Day

Congratulations to our teammate, Anna, who on Saturday, graduates from Radford University with many distinctions (read more about the university here). Anna has used her full scholarship to obtain a B.A., with a double major (German, Poly Sci) and a double minor (Econ, Int'l Affairs).

Despite playing four years of Division I soccer, itself a full-time job, she took roughly 18 credits per semester. She managed to squeeze in a semester abroad in Germany, where she polished the German she heard growing up - she is now fluent in the language. She's moving to DC next week to begin her career in a paid position at a local nonprofit dealing in management and infrastructure in developing countries. We'll get to see her even more now.

Throughout her time in college, Anna played Goalie for the Lady Highlanders. Check out her bio on the Radford Athletic Department page by clicking on Roster, then player profiles. Her Junior year in particular, she tore it up, leading the team in minutes and gaining 3 shut outs (not to mention making the conference all-academic team). Your captain and his wife saw Anna in action in a dominant win by Radford versus Howard U this past Fall.

We've only known Anna for a year, but it's been a great year.

Congratulations!

Standings

After this weekend's games, we have improved our position. Check out the standings. We are barely holding on to second due to a 2 goal differential. No one is running away with the division yet, it's anyone's to win.

Girl power

We came out fighting today and picked up a crucial 2-1 win versus Capital Crew.

The secret to our win was undoubtedly the tenacity of our women, who together played an extremely physical and skilled game. Each and every woman on the team made aggressive tackles and stymied the Crew's offense with good footwork, positioning, and frankly a stronger determination. It's not pleasant to play such a physical match, but we owned the field by the end of the game.

We have now achieved two of our three goals for the season. We won decisively in week 1, which has always been a problem for us. We beat Capital Crew, who had beaten us in a frustrating game last year (remember, in an earlier post, we had circled this game). Our last remaining goal is to make the playoffs. We're well on the way but it's going to take a few more wins. We're only half way through the season.

In the first half, we spent most of the half on the offensive. Credit our 3-4-3 set that George made us do "or else he would go on strike." That early offensive pressure by the forwards produced an own goal in about the 10'. We followed it up about 10 minutes later with a good attack and finish by Chris (Jer).

Perhaps we were overconfident. The Crew came out with intensity and really pushed for a goal. They finally got one in about the 65', and after a "dangerous play" in the box by your Captain, resulting in a free kick opportunity, the game had gotten close. But the defense fortified and we moved into a 4-4-2. It was a perfect lockdown: we pulled some people back on defense, marked players, and launched counterattacks to keep the other team honest.

Hope enjoyed getting the win. With the party and all, it was a good weekend for the team. We have the best roster of women in the third division and thanks to that, we won today.

Notes: April 29, 2007, GCCA, 2-1 win versus Capital Crew. Own goal, Chris (Jer).

First annual Goleropalooza!

Save the date for our end-of-the-season party, a.k.a., Goleropalooza.

Don't know what "Goleropalooza" means, it just sounded funny.

The party is tentatively scheduled for June 10th following our last regular season game (game is at 10:45am). The guest of honor will be Jess, who will be leaving us.

We can do a BBQ or possibly pool party. Let us know what you think. Several players have volunteered their places. Stay tuned for details.

Historic simulcast of Goleros party

This is an historic moment. We are simulcasting a Goleros party (we are watching the DCU game and it's not going well). You can enjoy this fun from the privacy of your home.

Actually, this post is just an excuse to pass on this...um...very strange and funny video. We watched it at halftime. Was it chemically induced? You decide. Carlos has referred it to us. Anna has made sure it's gotten to the college circuit. When you watch it, imagine that infamous Carlos kackle. Here it is - Charlie: Candy Mountain.

See you guys tomorrow at the field.

BTW, pictured is our star center defensive back holding the two Goleros trophies that we earned in July and November.

Reffing has been good, yes/no?

CCSL has made a big push this year for improved reffing. I think that's been demonstrated in our first three games. The first game was expertly reffed, there's no doubt about that. This last game was well reffed too. That includes the trainees. Recall that we were awarded a PK that took guts to call.

I completed a reffing eval for this week's game. Here's what I submitted:


Spring 2007 Referee Performance Evaluation on 04/23/2007 12:44 PM by golerosteam@gmail.com------------------If you are OK not remaining anonymous, please tell us your name and position on the team (example, captain/player/coach/spectator).

Peter Irvine, Captain of GolerosPlease type the date of the match and the two teams.4/22 Goleros vs Tsunami Naranja at the Marina

Did all three referees arrive at the field at least 30 minutes prior to kickoff? Yes

Did the referees ask for a game roster from your team captain 10 minutes prior to kickoff?Yes

Was the referee crew properly dressed (in USSF shirt, black shorts and black socks with current USSF badge displayed)?Yes all three were properly dressed

Comments: The reffing has been outstanding this year. Yesterday's refs were treated to a comedy of errors on the Marina field. But they performed very well. The game was managed efficiently and calls were made authoritatively, in a fair way, and with obvious evidence supporting the decision. Our team earned a PK and I was impressed by the call. It takes guts to award and in this case I really think there was enough evidence.

Did you see the referees have a pregame conference before the match (a 5-10 minute discussion where the center referee gives instructions to the assistant referes)?\Yes, always

Was the Center Referee in the correct position to make the call (close enough to the play to see what happened)?Almost always

Did the Center referee make the right hand signals (examples, for throw in, goal kick, indirect free kick and advantage). Yes,

Were the Center Referee's decisions correct?Almost always

Were the assistant referees in the proper position to call off side (the proper position is even with the second-to-last-defender at the tiem the ball is played)?Almost always

Did the assistant referees signal off side correctly?Most of the time

Did the Center referee have control of the match?Yes, always

Did the Center Referee show respect for the players?Yes, always

What specific things did this Center Referee do well?Meet with captains ahead of time Make a PK call Keep the spirit of the game high Removed refs as a major element of the game

What things would you like to see the Center referee do better? Louder whistle. There's not much to say here. We've seen this ref many times and it was a good performance.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest rating, how woulr you rate the performance of the Center referee?" 8 This ref was excellent

What is your overall rating of the SAR (Senior Assitant Refereee -- positioned near the player benches)8 This ref was excellent

What is your overall rating of the JAR (Junior Assistant Referee positined away from team benches)?6 This ref was a little above average
There were 2 trainees. They did fine.Well done to the entire crew.

Whiff!

Aaugh.

Our 6 game no-loss streak has come to an end. We lost 1-0 to Tsunami Naranja, a team we beat with as few as 9 players on the field last season. Credit Tsunami, they played pretty well and we definitely didn't earn the win.

But what was up with that game? It felt like the old Charlie Brown football thing. We put a lot of effort into it but it was as if we lost a scrimmage to ourselves. We missed about 10 chances on goal - all good efforts. Granted, it was a wretched field but we just didn't have the mojo. Instead, we ended up losing a disappointing match and probably yielding our number one spot in the division. We dropped to .500 at 1-1-1.

At kickoff, Goleros were in control. We lost our edge pretty quickly and eventually, in a comedy of errors, gave up a deflection in the box for an easy goal. One of Tsunami's few chances.

We began the second half with a little more edge. We had some outstanding crosses and won a lot of corners (something we need to work on - we rarely get our heads on the ball). Adrian was taken down in the box about midway through the half, which the refs did well to call a PK. We thought they might wimp out and call it outside the box. Anyway, a good effort on the line did not find the net. That was the way the game went.

We played fine as individuals, let's get 'em next time. It was good to have Courtney back and we love our little Goleros little ones on the sideline.

Have a nice week!

Notes: April 22, 2007, Marina, 1-0 loss to Tsunami Naranja, PK opportunity (Nathan).

Cynthia esta bien

We got an update from Cynthia to pass on to the team. She's doing well en la selva de Costa Rica. (The beginning of her note refers to Jess and her future studies in spatial analysis.)

Hey PI and team,
Nice to hear from you.. its good to know there are other "space the final frontier-types" out there. All you need is a satellite, a laptop and a lot of space-ey ideas, and you are good to go!

Sounds like the team is as active as ever. I played with the Costa Ricans last week, in the rain (it is a rainforest you know) and it was fabuloso! Our field was about half the size of a normal pitch and 3 times as muddy.. but loads of fun.

Good luck to Jess... and go, go, go.. goleros!! Keep in touch and don't get too cold out there.

Sincerely,
Cynthia
ps. Nice website!!!

Lady buffs needed

I joined my university's local alumni association soccer team. We have our first game versus the University of Arizona on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Hains point. Everything is pretty much an unknown right now. I don't know my team, I don't know how competitive they are, or how competitive the league is. I am pretty active in the CU community so I'm giving it a try.

They tell me they're desperate for more women to play this weekend. If you're a woman and you want to play soccer on Sunday afternoon, send an email to golerosteam@gmail.com.

Cherry Blossom Tournament

Hi Ho Nathan the Blogger here reporting on the CCSL Cherry Blossom
tournament. At the last minute one of the premier teams, Mixed Nuts,
informed the organizer, Jim, that they weren't coming to DC. So Jim
threw some players from his team, Mall Rats, into the mix plus a few
additions, like me, to create "Mall Rats NC". According to Jim, the
"NC" stands for Nut Crushers.

In traditional CCSL style, our 8:AM game got started about 8:20AM versus
the Hooligans (formerly Prism). This particular Saturday spring morning
was turning out to be a great day to play soccer. Mall Rats NC started
in their traditional Blue strip. Hooligans were green. Yours truly
opened the scoring within the first ten minutes :) Our defense lobbed a
ball high over their defenders so the goalie came out, but not quick
enough. The ball bounced, I heard the goalie say, "oh f*&^%" as I
lobbed it off the bounce over his head and into the goal. It turns out
that scoring early is not good for me because the during the rest of the
tournament I was constantly missing my first touch while thinking about
the second and third touch that would bring me into scoring position.
Luckily we had a good goalie and good possession and thusly the game
ended 1-0.

Our second game started around 12:30PM against an out-of-town "ringer"
team called the Pirates. They beat Booters FC in their first match 4-0
so we were looking at a hard match. The normal starting forward for
Mall Rats, Guy, opened the scoring about 20 minutes in off a hard hit
right footed half-volley to the far post. Nice goal. We looked good in
the beginning of the match, but they were in better shape for a double
header day and we started to wear out. By the end of the first half we
conceded two goals. The Pirates first goal I don't quite remember, but
I believe it was well worked and deserved. Their second goal came on a
counter attack after a failed Mall Rats corner kick. They ran it up the
side, put in a hard low cross, and our stopper at the time, Jim, put it
in our own net. He had to make a play on it because there was a Pirate
forward right behind him, and to be fair the ball took a bad bounce off
the lousy field right as he went to kick it. I had sprinted from one
end of the pitch to the other to cover that forward, but I didn't quite
reach him in time to call Jim off.

At half time, down only 2-1 we were optimistic for a comeback. Although
we didn't create many scoring chances in the second half, we kept them
out of the goal. Until near the end when their forward got away with
bringing the ball down with his hand and scoring. A couple of our guys
almost got thrown out of the game for arguing with the ref. The missed
hand ball call in the middle of a series of bad calls and bad
non-calls. Jim, being one of CCSL's premier refs, successfully kept a
lid on the dissent and reminded us all that reffing, bad or good, is
part of the game and something you have to be able to deal with and
still prevail if you want to be champions.

Overall, I had a good time. I did a lot of running, sometimes without
much purpose tactically, but I was using this opportunity to get in
shape and I'm sufficiently sore. Our third game and potential
championship games on Sunday were rained out. I believe Peter, George,
and Jess played three games. Our division was not set up for the
emergency late third game.

See you Sunday morning at the Marina!

Farewell tour

Have you heard the news? Jess is moving to Columbus this summer, which means that this season is her last with us. Starting now, she's on a farewell tour, but it's different from this one.

What's in Ohio that's worth leaving us for? A prestigious graduate program at Ohio State, that's what. She's going to study spatial analysis, much like Cynthia (our former forward now living in Costa Rica). This puts Jess back into a field she studied in undergrad. Although spatial analysis is primarily a physical geography discipline, it has really cool applications for things like mapping disease patterns.

We're going to miss her. Her departure is bittersweet. Bitter because we all know how important she is to the team. She's talented, reliable, and fun. Your captain recruited her in 2004 when he worked with her briefly at a government agency. Turns out she has the probably the best fundamental skills of any player on the team. She holds the ball against the strongest opponents and her line work is exemplary. (We recall Carlos once toasting her at Rio Grande: 'somehow, Jess, you always come up with the ball!'). She's uses all those skills to contribute to the offense - she has tallied the most points from goals and assists of any Goleros woman to date.

Jess' departure is sweet because she's moving on to bigger and better things. It's a good opportunity and there will be plenty of soccer in Columbus.

Jess leaves the DC area at the end of June. We're going to have a send off. Post any ideas here.

We're sorry to see you go, Jess.

Cherry Blossom tourney report

Imagine playing 3 games in a row.

That's what some of us did this weekend. (you really feel it the next morning!) We participated in the CCSL Cherry Blossom tournament on the Mall. The tournament organizers saw the rain coming on Sunday so they compacted the first round into one day (and, as it turned out, canceled the finals). It was a nice day actually. We had some drizzle but we also had some sun. There were thousands of people on the Mall due to the annual festivities.

Nathan joined the Mall Rats in the Premier division.

Jess, Pete, and George joined our friends at Far Post in the rec division. We know Far Post well - we played them in the season opener in Fall '06 and again this spring. Jon, their captain, assembled a good crew for the tourney. We made a marked improvement in each game, finishing with a 1-1-1 record after three physical matches (to the best of my recollection: 2-0 loss to Little Urban Achievers; 3-3 tie to Kicks; 3-2 win over Peak).

A word about Peak, the enigmatic team from Roanoke. They have a unique...um...style. They basically play in two lines. The back line - the Beat Generation - averages about 50 years of age, with ponytails being the preferred "do." The front line - the myspace generation - averages around 23, with excellent speed and skills. Here's to Peak! I hope to play on a back line like that some day. They were a good opponent (your captain actually played them in another tournament several years ago).

As for our time with Far Post, it was fun. Good luck to them in the rest of the CCSL season.

Changes to schedule

The league announced several changes to the schedule that affect us - and positively! The game schedule window above is updated so you can just go by that. If you want to know what changed, here it is.

- Our game this weekend at the Marina has been pushed back an hour (sometimes prayers are answered). We don't start until 9:00 am. Brunch is still on!

- Our game on May 13th has been pushed forward an hour. We start at 9:00 am.

- We've been awarded two more premium fields which means 2 of our games at Marina have been moved to a brand new state-of-the-art turf field at George Washington University.

Let's reflect for a moment on the quality fields that we've played on and will play on. We're really lucky. They are some of the best rec fields available anywhere. It's a lot more fun to play on a premium surface.

Free DCU tickets!

George and I are both getting tickets to Saturday night's DCU vs. KC Wizards game at RFK (7:30pm). Neither of us need them, however. We are offering them free to friends.

Send an email to golerosteam@gmail.com to claim them.

Fwd: play in tourney this weekend?

Goleros women,

George and I are joining Far Post for this weekend's CCSL tournament. They need 1-2 more women. If interested, let me know ASAP.

Details:

Games played on mall

$25 for 3+ games, includes ticket to DCU vs. Kansas City Saturday night

Tentative schedule as follows: Sat 11 and 3:30, Sun 8:30 and possible final at 11:30

Must arrange with their Captain to make a player pass in advance

--
Goleros Soccer Club
http://www.golerosteam.blogspot.com/

Get your tix

Want tickets to the best DCU games at a good price with no unreasonable fees? Visit this site and click through the DCU ticket link. They're offering a great deal - 1 ticket to 4 of the best DCU games for $101. We bought some. See below.



Purchase tickets to four of the best matches of 2007! The price for the NVASA/D.C. United 4-Pack is just $101. Included in each 4-pack is one ticket for each of the following matches:

Saturday, April 14: United’s home opener against the Kansas City Wizards
Saturday, May 26: 2006 MLS champions, the Houston Dynamo
Thursday, August 9: David Beckham and the rest of the LA Galaxy
Sunday, November 18: MLS Cup returns to RFK
The NVASA/D.C. United 4-Pack is your opportunity to guarantee a ticket to David Beckham’s first match in D.C.* before they go on sale to the public. Each of the above dates will also feature the world famous NVASA pre-game tailgate with food and drink. This event is included with your ticket to the match. Buy one or more 4-packs today!

*NVASA and D.C. United cannot guarantee that David Beckham will play in this game.

MLS season begins

This guy looks like me. It's Josh Gros of the DC United.

Tomorrow, DC United visits the Colorado Rapids for the MLS season opener (actually Gros isn't making the trip due to a possible concussion suffered against Chivas de Guadelajara on Tuesday). The MLS is debuting yet another soccer specific stadium in Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Our own Jeremy is attending the game. You can see it on ABC at 3:30 EST. Hopefully, we can convince Jer to post something from his mobile phone.



Next Saturday night, DCU will have its home opener at RFK versus the Kansas City Wizards. We're going to attend. If you're interested, post a comment here.

Yoohoo, Spring Break

Just a reminder that we're off for two weeks on account of Easter and a league-sponsored tournament. We return to action on April 22nd at the glorious time of 8am.

And since we'll be up REALLY EARLY that morning, we've been talking about doing brunch after the game. Where else are you going to go at that hour?

Interested?

A love story

We are proud to announce the engagement of Tom and Anne.

This is a very happy moment. Tom is an original Goleros player, a committed and multi-talented individual, and a good friend of your Captain. Now Tom is going to marry a wonderful woman who we have come to know and love as "Anne from the Yellow Team."

It's a Goleros love story.

In 2004, Anne and Tom reportedly met briefly at a party one night. Then, only days later, they faced each other in a soccer match at Falls Road Local Park in Potomac, MD. Anne played on the Yellow Team (made up of American U law students) and we were the Goleros of the Montgomery County league. We can remember Anne focusing more on Tom than the game. On a particular corner kick, Anne was busy talking to Tom and not picking up her man. We won the game and Tom won a date with Anne.

And forever after they made a great couple. They were recently engaged on a vacation. For those of you who don't know Anne, she is among other things a soccer player. She's also a bright and successful lawyer for a well-regarded firm. With all of her travels and experience with international transactions, perhaps some day she can represent Goleros if and when we get into the international transfer market.

Let's raise a glass for Tom and Anne. We wish the happy couple the best!

We've been saved

Game ball to George! Throughout our competitive matchup versus Quicksilver FC, our trusty keeper kept us in the game with some aggressive goalkeeping and stellar saves.

This week, we earned a 2-2 tie against one of the better teams we've faced in CCSL. They had two strikers with outstanding dribbling skills and quick feet. We should all be happy with the result, because it's likely that Quicksilver will finish somewhere near the top of the table. It's an earned point that may make a big difference come playoff time.

We played pretty well, though; the game could have gone either way. In the first half, we failed to capitalize on Quicksilver's lackluster start with only 10 players (they later fielded a full squad). We eventually got the game under control and steadily built some confidence. Directly off a substitution, Chris took Chip's soft-touch pass at the top of the box in traffic and dribbled his way (somehow) to a one-on-one with the goalie. Goal! We narrowly missed another one off a low cross from Jon.

The second half was more tense. After giving up an early goal, both teams traded attacks until we built up a phenomenal attack up the wing. Leslie out-dribbled a few defenders from the wing to the end-line, and sent a low cross that Anna finished. Goal! Our first all-female hookup in a while. Unfortunately, we lost a little focus in the celebration and couldn't slow down a very skilled Quicksilver striker on the restart. In the last significant event of the game, he scored to even the result.

Unselfish play by everyone, good job!

We're officially on Spring Break. We have two weeks off, resuming on April 22nd. Let's stay in shape and try to pick up where we left off. We're on a streak of 5 regular season games without a loss, dating back to the fall.

Now, back to the Florida-Ohio St. game...

Notes: April 1, 2007, 2-2 tie versus Quicksilver FC. Goals by Chris (Chip), Anna (Leslie). GK: George.