Standings: can we possibly stay at the top?

Scores have finally been reported in full for the week.  With 7 weeks in the books, we are at the top of the division with an impressive 18 points from a 6-1 record.  DC Divided is close on our heels with a 5-1 record and a game in hand.  While we have more goals (30!), they have achieved exactly what we have on paper, and their loss to FC Arlington was by a smaller margin.  They're coming for us in the final week, make no mistake, and they expect to win.

CCSL>Third Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Goleros	6	1	0	7	18	30	13	17	2.4
2		DC Divided	5	1	0	6	15	18	8	10	1.7
3		FC Arlington	4	0	1	5	13	13	3	10	2.0
4		Far Post	4	3	0	7	12	22	18	4	0.6
5		Our Kicks Dont Lie	2	2	2	6	8	14	18	-4	-0.7
6		Funky Town	1	3	2	6	5	7	10	-3	-0.5
7		Unathletic DC	1	4	1	6	4	11	25	-14	-2.3
8		Two Left Feet	1	5	1	7	4	8	16	-8	-1.1
9		Red Devils	0	5	1	6	1	8	20	-12	-2.0

FC Arlington stumbled this past week and tied Funky Town, a team we beat 3-0.  However, they still hold the keys to the regular season championship if they win their next three games.  That's right, they have three to play to our one.  Here's their remaining schedule:

	Date	Time	Event	Type	Field
		Fri, Oct 21	8:00p -10:00p	(h) vs Red Devils	GAME	Silver Spring, Blair HS
		Sun, Oct 23	10:00a -12:00p	vs Unathletic DC (h)	GAME	Washington , Ridge Rec Turf
		Sun, Oct 30	3:00p -4:30p	(h) vs Our Kicks Dont Lie	GAME	Washington , Galludet

If they lose or tie one of those games, and we beat DC Divided, we can still get 1st place.  Um, we're going for that.

1000th Post!

This blog started in March 2007 with this post.  Since then, we have posted 1000 times.  Even more impressive, you read many of those posts!  It's been a sensational tool and a good way to keep our team together on a virtual pitch.  We have lots of hits and about 2500 comments.

Here are a few other stats, according to blogger (all of this is true):

• We have 13,288 page views.  The vast majority of those hits came from within the United States, but it seems we also have a following in the Netherlands, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, the UK, Taiwan, and Italy. 
• About 20% of our viewers use a Mac - that's disappointingly low considering I'm in that club.  We've had 116 hits on Mobile Safari, in other words, iPhones.
• Our peak viewership was in September 2009, but we had a nice spike this year in September as well.
• We've been searched for specifically in Google about 500 times, and we've gotten some referrals from facebook.  I've been meaning to shut that off because I kind of like the anonymity of the blog.  I have otherwise removed it from most search capability.
• For some strange reason, this was our most viewed post (97 times).  Nap's RSVP to Game 6 is the second place finisher with 68 hits - strange stuff.  This mobile photo of Griz's daughter ranked pretty high too.

This was way more successful than I thought years ago.  Thanks to everyone who makes it fun and worthwhile!  Thanks to Nap, De, Ally, Nate, and others for participating.

Playoff schedule taking shape

Check out the playoff schedule.  Games start Nov. 6th and go through Nov. 20th.  Mark your calendars!

From the Commissioner:

Hey all,

 

The Fall regular season is coming down to the final couple of weekends and Ive had a couple of inquiries about playoffs. 

 

Since we are needing our makeup weekend this year, the schedule plan for playoffs will be as follows:

 

Quarterfinals: Sunday November 6^th

Semifinals: Sunday November 13^th

Finals: Sunday November 20^th

 

Also heres a reminder about how playoffs work:

 

• Top 6 teams in each division make the playoffs
• Top 2 seeds get a first round bye
• 3 seed plays 6 seed and 4 seed plays 5 seed in the quarterfinals
• There is no reseeding (ala NHL) and in the semis, 1 seed plays the winner of 4/5 game and the 2 seed plays the winner of the 3/6 game
• According to our Constitution, In the event of two or more teams sharing the same number of points in the final standings, the following criteria, in order of priority, will be used:

1)     head-to-head

2)     goal differential (goals scored minus goals allowed)

3)     goals for

4)     most wins

5)     least forfeitures

6)     most shutouts

7)   coin toss

8)   Rock/Paper/Scissors

• Note that our website unfortunately does not handle the head to head tiebreaker, so the standing displayed may not be correct per our rules.
• Only players on the official roster previously submitted to our registrar are allowed to play
• IDs WILL be checked against rosters prior to the games during playoffs

Any questions please feel free to reach out

Sanjay

Franchise Player

Elyse in action

This is a big week for Elyse.  She's worked hard to raise a ton of money for Breast Cancer Awareness.  In support of her mom, who has been out to support us on occasion, Elyse is headed off this weekend to complete the New York Avon Walk for the Cure.  You may have seen my earlier post on this topic.

We'll be there in spirit to support you, E.  You're a rock solid teammate and a great person.

You're also a true #10.  There is hardly a goal scoring sequence that you don't help orchestrate.  I am not the only one who recognizes the skills.  Your captains are grateful that CCSL is not a free market enterprise because we shudder to think what we would have to pay to secure your services on the open market.  Your stock is trading high, too, having just scored the winning goal in our match last weekend.

Best of luck!

Silver Fox to go on the IR!

He's in such good shape, I bet you thought you'd never see this image.  But it happened.  The Silver Fox suffered his first significant soccer injury in years, spraining his right ankle in the Tuesday night pick-up game that he and George play.  George texted me that night - when he told me the news and I heard the two of them laughing like hyenas I thought it was a joke.  So I went to the ER myself.  It wasn't a joke.  But we had about as good of a time as you can have in an ER at midnight.  Carlos told the people in the waiting room that it was a skiing injury.  I played the role of (pretend) angry manager when the doctor came around.  Darn it, I need this central defender back on the field next week.  Doc, make it happen!  Give him a shot!  The PA who reviewed the X-rays was a little alarmed and tried to tell Carlos that it would take longer and that he shouldn't be forced to play soon.  Better to take his time to recover properly.

Carlos saw the Goleros team Orthopedist, Dr. Klimkeiwicz of Georgetown, today.  Yes, we have a team Ortho.  He did an operation on me, and he has treated Carlos and a few other players as well.  As we get older, we may have to take him away from his practice focused on Georgetown athletes and devote him full time to our players.


The diagnosis is severe ankle sprain, 6 weeks.  Get well buddy!  You're in great condition.  You will make a full recovery.  And yes, take your time!

A league of their own

You can count on them at happy hour too

Nap remarked to me last week that our women have been awesome this season.  She was bragging about "girl power."  Sensing that she was on to something, I looked a little deeper into this matter.  Turns out it's true.  

Ever since the character of this team fundamentally changed in 2004, when we picked up some recruits like Jackie Y and Kristin who gave us a lasting foundation, we’ve been blessed with a solid female roster.  If you play with us, it's no secret: the women often carry the team.

This season is a case in point.  Even with new faces and roles, we’re finding our game on defense again, relying upon our women to play centrally and on the wing, to stop the major attacking threats and to provide good service to the midfield.  We've got versatility, toughness, and some surprising speed in those players.  (It’s been great to have De back in the mix, hasn’t it?)  In the midfield and at forward, our female side is productive to say the least.  We have women who demonstrate skill and sharp decision-making with the ball at their feet.  When it comes to that last pass or shot, our women account for 19 of the 52 points tallied thus far this season, or roughly 37%.  I did the numbers on paper last week, and if memory serves that's at least 5 goals.  I am virtually certain that these stats are the highest in our division, and I bet it’s tops across all divisions in the league, including Premier, where rosters are packed with former female players from top Division 1 programs.

Deadly in the box

Over the years, we've had some great stories to tell: Anna's hat trick a year ago, making her the highest scoring woman in club history; Carolyn's left-footed golazo last season at Trinity; Nap's ability to steer the ball to safety in traffic.

The Lady Goleros are...wait for it...in a league of their own.

Congratulations, papa!

The skills are in the genes

Great news in the Goleros family.

We have a new addition.  Ermy and his wife Margot - one of our tried and true fans and a lovely person - had a baby boy.  Little Wesley was born on October 5th, weighing in at 8 lbs 20 inches!  All is well, I'm told.

Congratulations to our teammate.  That is a game changer my friend!

Top of the table

The league’s website shows Goleros on top of the table this week.  While the standings appear to take into account all play up to this week - and thus they are accurate - they do not provide a good basis to predict how we would finish.  So don't buy into the notion that we are #1 yet.  Notice that FC Arlington has not one, but now two, games in hand due to the disparity in their schedule versus ours.  They will play 4 games to our 2, giving them plenty of opportunities to gain points against the teams at the bottom of the table.  Add that to the fact that the website does not calculate head-to-head losses as tie-breakers, per CCSL rules, and we could have a misleading table for a number of weeks.

Another thing.  DC Divided is doing great and will likely win its next two games.  Depending on how we do this week - we have to keep taking care of business - that could put DC Divided just above us or just below us in the table since we have a bye on October 23rd.  We play each other in the final fixture on Oct. 30th at 8:00 a.m..  That could be an important one. 

CCSL>Third Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Goleros	5	1	0	6	15	21	9	12	2.0
2		FC Arlington	4	0	0	4	12	12	2	10	2.5
3		DC Divided	4	1	0	5	12	14	7	7	1.4
4		Far Post	3	3	0	6	9	19	17	2	0.3
5		Our Kicks Dont Lie	2	1	2	5	8	10	9	1	0.2
6		Two Left Feet	1	5	1	7	4	8	16	-8	-1.1
7		Unathletic DC	1	3	1	5	4	10	21	-11	-2.2
8		Funky Town	1	3	1	5	4	6	9	-3	-0.6
9		Red Devils	0	4	1	5	1	7	17	-10	-2.0

We extended our winning streak to four games on Sunday, defeating Unathletic DC by a score of 4-1 on a perfect fall day.

We had only seen one of Unathletic’s players before.  They have a lean and talented all-purpose player who reportedly played for Tsunami for years.  Anyway, he burned us for one goal and could have had 1-2 more, but he lacked support.

Speaking of more goals, we could have had a lot more ourselves.  While the result was never in doubt once Mike struck decisively from distance in the 20^th minute, we should have finished a number of other chances.  We hit the woodwork 3 times, relatively hard each time, and we were close on a few other plays too.  Nate found the back of the net in the first half, but the goal was disallowed on an offside call.  But Mike had a brace and Elyse and Anna picked up two other nice goals.

One notable aspect to this win is that we inserted several new pieces without any hiccups.  We called up Bucky for his first league match – we hadn’t seen him since the 2010 Cherry Blossom Tournament.  At the last minute, we also signed and played Jamie, who came to us via Maggie and Chris D.  We were able to do this due to an injury substitution, which is allowed under league rules until the 5^th game.  Jamie was great out there at right back, and quite flexible to play with us under these circumstances.  Hope to see her back soon!  We also had Chip back after a lengthy absence – but it’s not like the guy is new to the club.  He was here for our first game in 2000 and is still getting it done.

Game notes: 4-1 win versus Unathletic DC on 10/9/11 at Ridge.  Goals by Mike (Nate), Elyse (rebound), Anna (PK earned by same - very well taken), Mike (not known).  GK: Bucky.

Post updated 11:00 a.m. 10/12/11

On a Roll

Well, we have our first legitimate win streak in a while, at 3 games, and we are enjoying a record of 4-1.  It will take a lot to keep it going, and we certainly expect Unathletic DC to try to spoil the party this coming Sunday.

Last week’s win was enjoyable.  We managed a 6-2 decision versus the former #2 team in the division, Far Post.  Far Post is a fun, sportsmanlike team that has been around longer than us, keeping some continuity among its regulars and recruiting new players.  Certainly their tall striker, who buried their second goal is good, but my favorite has always been Sara, the #22 midfielder who is elusive and skillful, with fantastic movement both on and off the ball.  While many may have been focusing on our goals and finishing in this game, the difference to me was actually Chris D, Nap, and particularly Elyse, who made critical adjustments to mark Sara and take her effectively out of the game in the second half and keeping the ball in our possession.  Once we did that, Far Post was much less threatening and things opened up for us.

Far Post scored first on some questionable goal keeping by yours truly.  A ball skirted free off the corner and Far Post was at the goal line to kick it in.  I credit the defense for taking it in stride and not retreating.  We pushed and got a very similar goal of our own when Mike managed to roll one over their goal line in a confusing sequence.  Later in the half, Adrian made some great moves and sent in a great cross to Maggie, who finished a nice ball to give us the lead. 

We never relinquished the lead from that point forward, and the goals kept coming.  Chris N scored twice, the second shot coming off of the best play of the game when Cat sent in a dangerous ball from an advanced position.  Adrian got one and then I was able to get some field time and score one myself – off my left foot!

On to the next game.

Notes: 6-2 win versus Far Post on 10/2/11.  Goals: Mike (not known), Maggie (Adrian), Chris N. (Chris D., Cat), Chris N. (Cat), Adrian (Maggie), Pete (Nate).  GK: Pete, Adrian in 80’). Discipline: Mike? (yellow, hard foul).

Up a notch

Here is this week’s table.  Goleros moved up a notch, to second place, due to our strategic win this past weekend.  This is great news because second place has a lot of advantages.  The second seed at the end of the regular season qualifies for a bye in the playoffs, advancing right to the semi-finals. Thus, the path to a playoff championship requires only two wins instead of three.  The second-place finisher in the regular season is also in position to be considered for promotion.  Under the league’s rules, promotion is considered first for the first-place finisher in the regular season and then second for the playoff champion.  However, if the playoff champion is also the first-place finisher, the second-place finisher in the regular season is considered next.  All this is to say that we have a lot to play for in these final games.  We want to get that bye in the playoffs and finish at least firmly in second.

What about first-place, you say?  We’re going for that too.  If we win out, we will deserve it.  But we have to recognize the odds.  FC Arlington currently holds that spot with a perfect 4-0 record.  Versus Goleros, they hold all the trump cards.  FC Arlington owns the tie-breaker (head-to-head win) and has a game in hand.  Further, they play all of the teams at the bottom of the table to close out the season.  It’s hard to see them yielding 4 points (a loss and a tie), which would be required for us to take first. This assumes that we win out, and we’re not taking that for granted by any means!  If you look at the stats of some of our opponents, that would not be wise.  We will have to earn each and every win.

We worked hard thus far so let’s just keep playing and having fun.

CCSL>Third Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		FC Arlington	4	0	0	4	12	12	2	10	2.5
2		Goleros	4	1	0	5	12	17	8	9	1.8
3		Far Post	3	2	0	5	9	18	10	8	1.6
4		DC Divided	3	1	0	4	9	7	6	1	0.3
5		Our Kicks Dont Lie	2	1	1	4	7	8	7	1	0.3
6		Unathletic DC	1	2	1	4	4	9	17	-8	-2.0
7		Two Left Feet	1	5	0	6	3	6	14	-8	-1.3
8		Funky Town	0	3	1	4	1	3	9	-6	-1.5
9		Red Devils	0	3	1	4	1	7	14	-7	-1.8

Still to come

Our goals this weekend were tame compared with this one.  Check out this video!  Who will step up to score like this?

Makeup game scheduled for Sunday October 30th

Please make an immediate note.  The game that was rained out earlier this season has been rescheduled.  I can't believe my eyes.  It's another 8:00 am game.

8:00 a.m. Sunday October 30th at Galludet.

Save the date!  It will be a key game.  It could be the game that decides our playoff and or promotion spot - if we can continue the winning streak.

Necessary precautions for Ridge field

Hey team,

This week, we play at Ridge, that field in Southwest DC near Fort Dupont park.  We've generally had good games there, playing competitively and well.

Anyway, CCSL players have reported numerous minor incidents of theft at the field over the past 2 years.  There was another incident this season.  Do not bring valuables to the game.  We will also put all of our gear into one big pile along the sideline, in view of all players.  With those precautions, I don't foresee any problems.

See league email below:

ALL:

FYI.

Jesse
USSF Assignor

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Sanjay
To: CCSL Teams
Cc: CCSL Execs
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 2:22 PM
Subject: [ccsl_teams] Ridge

Hi all,

We had another incident this past weekend with some property gone missing at Ridge while a game was being played.  I wanted to let you all know that we are in the process of trying to retain outside security (non-armed) to help police the area for us on Sunday.  Ridge is a great field and given our financial picture, we do not have the luxury of being able to be choosy and not using it.  But we also dont want to feel at risk so while the rates are low, we are looking into what we can do as far as added security presence.

In the meantime, please consider the following:

- do not bring valuables to the field
- consolidate belongs with both teams as close to the pitch as possible.  Dont leave bags all spread out near the fences.
- keep all the belongings under the eye of subs or other onlookers you may have brought
- help out teams who may not have subs by also keeping an eye on their belongings

We want to have a safe fun environment for CCSL soccer, so please bear with us as we work through this.

Sanjay