Need more power?

This is DC, where power really counts.  If you're in need of more power, become a referee.  You can blow the whistle and make people respect you.  

Well, it's not about power, but...it's a good way to help out, get exercise, and make money.  We have some good refs on the team - Jer, Liam, Nate in a former life, and now maybe Katya!  But we can ALWAYS use more.  Remember, we have to ref a certain number of games or our dues go way up - like $500. 

Check out this opportunity:

All:

 

CCSL and WAWSL are again offering a New Referee course for players, friends of teammates, spouses, significant others who are interested in officiating.   Becoming a referee is a great way to learn more about the game, stay in shape, make some extra money, and help your team fulfill their referee requirement. 

WAWSL/CCSL 2008 Grade 8 New Referee Course information:

Cost:  $65 - Reimbursed to WAWSL player-refs after they officiate 10 games
Class Code: NORTH00071-09
Class Type: New Referee
Grade(s): 8
Area: North
Location: Greenstein DeLorme & Luchs, P.C., 1620 L Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington DC 20036 (this is in walking distance from several metro stations including Farragut West, McPherson Square—orange and blue lines—and Farragut North—red line). Street parking also opens up at 630p.

Dates: Tuesday Aug 12, Thursday Aug 14, Tuesday Aug 19, and Thursday Aug 21st

Times: 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM

Sponsor: WAWSL / CCSL

Instructor: Tom Frank
Contact: Jessie Kratz -  refs@wawsl.org

**You must attend all four sessions**

To register: You must complete online registration to sign up for the clinic (two-step process) at the State Referee Program web page:www.vadcsoccerref.com

First, you go to the site and click on "on-line" registration. Then you get to a page that says in bold and red: CLICK THIS BUTTON TO REGISTER FOR 2009—click where is says "register here." Once you have registered, you will have an option to select a clinic. Please select the clinic with "Jesse Kratz" as the point of contact.

If you have a problem registering and signing up for a clinic, e-mail me.  Cost of the class is $65.  You can pay on-line or bring check to class. Checks should be made out to "State Referee Program."

If you can't attend one of our sponsored courses, you may attend one listed under clinics here: www.vadcsoccerref.

com 

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

Best regards,

 

Jesse Rosenthal

USSF Assignor

Tournament outlook

Re-visit this post to see the 2008 tournament calendar. We've got at least two more possibilities.

What's your level of interest?

There's a Fallfest tournament in Columbia, MD, tentatively scheduled for early November.

Then, there's the National Coed Cup in Dallas on October 25-26. Although I'm not committed by any stretch of the imagination to sending a team, we should consider it. Lodging and airfare would raise the cost, for sure. Flights are currently going for about $400, based on a quickie Expedia search. We would almost surely need to partner with another team to get enough players - perhaps Far Post or Tsunami. Budgets and schedules aside, it would be a lot of fun.

If you know of any other fall tournament possibilities, let me know.

This is going to be one of our secret plays

Watch carefully, I want us to be able to execute this play if necessary.

Early exit

We sent a trim squad to compete in the Coed Classic on July 19-20. It was our fourth appearance in the Columbia, MD tournament. Read about past exploits here, here, here, and here. We used a base of Goleros players plus some new blood to spice things up.

But we weren't spicy. We went 0-3, failing to clear our group for the second year in a row. The rec division was mighty competitive this year - especially in the North division with all the NOVA teams. That being said, we were capable of beating them all - we just didn't jell until it was too late.

We opened the tourney with a 3-1 loss to Flying Pigs, which has been known to field a good team. Three years ago, we lost to them 2-1, but man we were a ragged squad then. I'm pretty sure we beat them two years ago. We were a defensive disaster this time around, and the midfield was absent. Alec made at least 5 outstanding saves, sparing us a nasty loss. Our goal was a last-minute run all the way to the goal line by Adrian (who had the assist?).

Next, we played the familiar Capital Crew. Only they weren't familiar; they were good and sportmanlike. We lost concentration on one play and gave up a breakaway. Then we couldn't sink one of our own. 1-0 loss. It was frustrating but we were outplayed.

Coed Classic, July 2008

On Sunday, we still had a slim chance to advance if we won, didn't give up goals, and Capital Crew lost by 2 goals. Unfortunately, we gave up 2 goals in the first half on defensive miscues so it became an exhibition pretty quickly. We played our friends at AC/DC, who have four players that developed in our system: Carlos, Anna, Jen, and Georgie (no transfer fees were ever

obtained). We really had them on the ropes in the second half when we showed inspiration and aggressiveness. Chris scored midway through the half after shredding the defense and placing one just past Anna's reach. It's too bad we couldn't sink another one - to our credit, though, AC/DC did have to resort to a series of intentional fouls to preserve the win (2-1).

He was on a mission

She was pretty darn good

Well, it was fun but we're now riding a 4 game losing streak in all competitions. Hopefully, that will motivate us for the fall season. Thanks to Lance, Ashley, Turner, Alec, and Lexie for joining us at the tournament! You guys did a great job.

Wien

I said I would post a few more pics from my recent travels.  I was always like to see photos of foreign places - hopefully you do too.  Here are some shots of Vienna, Austria. Sleepy but beautiful, particularly if you an architecture buff.  It's very much a gateway to Eastern Europe.

The first photo is the Kunst History Museum near the spectacular Hofburg in the city center.  It was one of many places that I passed by quickly in my 2 hour walking tour (that's all the time I had).  

The second photo depicts Karlskirsche, a wonderful oriental and baroque-style church.  Apparently, there are some incredibly intricate scenes carved on the columns.  I wouldn't know, it was getting dark and I had more to see!    

The third photo is just a shot of the city center near Stephansplatz, which is near the scary-looking St. Stephan Cathedral.  That place is so Goth.  

Summer Bash

Our girl Ally is hosting our summer get-together - it's Friday night, August 22nd.  She needs a sense of who's coming.  Friends and significant other are welcome.  

Are you planning to come and how many will be in your party?  Let us know for real for real (as Ally would say).

I'm pulling for jello shots, and not, as Jackie suggested, an Ice Luge.  Got into big trouble once with an ice luge - woke up in the bathroom three hours later.

 Consult this helpful graphic for more info on jello shots.  What, you say, they're not classy?  I beg to differ.  My friend served them at his fancy country club wedding last month! This is the graphic I wanted to use - but I try to keep it family friendly here.

Thursday: pick up and margs

We had quite a turnout for the spur of the moment pick up tonight at W&L (we moved to Quincy Park when the field was full).  

Apparently, we're going to do it again Thursday night, followed by drinks at the Rio.  Try one of their margaritas - decent.  

Stay tuned for more details.

Pick up

Tonight - W&L High School in Arlington, 7:00.

Player passes

CCSL is an affiliated league, which means we are members of a regional soccer association, which in turn is part of the US Soccer Federation structure.  Most affiliated leagues require players to present passes to the referee before each game.  It helps the associations track members and ensure fair rosters.  CCSL doesn't require player passes, but many tournaments do.  We have the option to obtain passes through our league.  Read the email below.  I will probably raise this issue again.  It would be nice to get a pass for everyone.

Hey all,

 

There have a been a number of requests lately for us to create player passes for individuals for upcoming tournaments (Neptune especially).  There is a real cost of these to the league to create these in terms of fees, materials, and shipping, and up till now, we have been trying to accommodate the random requests even though they are for activities outside of our league.  Going forward however, we are going not going to be able to eat the costs and will need to charge a nominal fee for each card made.  As a reminder, cards can only be made for players already affiliated and rostered in CCSL in the Spring or Summer.

 

Each player pass will cost $5 to make but if you need to have an entire team, we can create passes for $50 total.  As with normal league dues, we will need to have payment before providing the cards.  And please allow at least 10 days for your requests.

 

For those who simply need updated stickers for existing cards, there will not be a charge.

 

So if you need to have a player pass created please contact our registrar Rachel at ccslregistrar@gmail.com.

 

Please let us know if any questions.

 

thanks!

 

Sanjay

Pick up on Sunday

My friend Rachel is organizing some pick up this Sunday in South Arlington. Feel free to email her and show up. Here's the email that went out.

Hello to you all,

I wanted to give you more information on what is going on this Sunday with
our pick up game. We are aiming to start at 4pm at the small field that is
in front of Abingdon Elementary School (3035 S. Abingdon St., Arlington VA
22206). The school is at the end of a dead end street, and you'll see the
field on your right before you approach the school. I'll try to get there
a bit before 4pm to try and secure the field for us. If any of you have no
idea where this school is, please let me know! We are about .5 mile from
Shirlington, in the Fairlington Village area.

If you guys could bring a light and a dark shirt, a ball, and if anyone has
cones, please let me know! If not, I'll bring out some old shirts to serve as
posts. I don't mind playing in rain, as long as there isn't thunder and
lightening and the field doesn't turn into a swamp. What about you all??
This is my first attempt to putting something like this together at the school,
so I hope everyone shows up, and hopefully we can continue this pick-up for
weekends to come.If you all know anyone else who is interested in playing,
please pass-on this email to them.

All skill levels and ages will be showing up. Also, if you find out
you CAN'T come, please let me know!! (Suda, I already know you won't be
there; I thought I would send this to you in case you wanted to send it on to
others)Any questions? If not, see you all (and hopefully more!) this
Sunday at 4pm!

Rachel
rach98blue@hotmail.com

Don't forget about the Team BBQ

Remember folks, we've got a BBQ scheduled for August 22nd.  It will be a nice start to the fall season, which will kick off Sunday the 24th.

...and I'm back

Let's get this blog fired up again.

Here are the first of some photos I'll share of my business trip to Europe.  

I had a free weekend in London towards the end of the trip.  What was my first stop?  Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea FC plays.  Check out the location here on Google maps.  I stayed in nearby Kensington so it was an easy place to start.  The stadium has been around for more than 100 years - obviously they've renovated the place.  I took a little tour.  Not bad, but for L10 ($20), I would have liked to scrimmage with the team.

Has DCU ever played Chelsea?  You tell me.

And the scoring title goes to...

Bubbles!  Congratulations, Jon, you win $1 off fall dues.

But it's not all about Jon.  Check out the score sheet for Spring 2008.  We are an equal opportunity scoring machine.  We don't discriminate based on size or gender.  We set new records for the number of players on the scoresheet (20) and the number of women scoring points in a single season (8).  Impressive.

Scoring is done as follows: goal (2pts), PK (2pts), assist (1 pt), earned PK (1 pt).  Feast your eyes on this:

Jon - 6 goals, 2 assists, 14 points

Chris - 5 goals, 2 assists, 12 points

Adrian - 4 goals, 1 assist, 9 points

Ermy - 2 goals, 3 assists, 7 points

Mike - 2 goals, 1 assist, 5 points

Nate - 2 goals, 0 assists, 4 points

Katya - 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 points

Bri - 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 points

Kate - 1 goal, 0 assists, 2 points

Jackie - 1 goal, 0 assists, 2 points

Liam - 1 goal, 0 assists, 2 points

De - 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points

Chip - 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points

Ashley - 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point

Ally - 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point

Jer - 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point

Pete - 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point

You must remember that this is just a tally of the offensive scoring. Everyone knows that a team must be equally balanced on offense and defense. You can't win without either - there's just no quantitative way to measure your defensive value.  Our objective is always for the team to perform at its highest level. We aren't about individual scoring. Many players never even get the opportunity to get that assist or take that shot. They are too busy tracking back and trying to win the ball back for the offense. So people, give the defense our due!

[Edited to reflect Liam's goal!]

America the Beautiful

Happy Fourth of July!

America, I miss you. I'm in Paris now, seeing the sights before my meetings start on Monday. It's a beautiful city. I haven't been here since 1994, when I gave a tour of the Louve to a French girl who never ended up giving me her phone number. All those art history classes for nothing.

Kate, I'm thinking of you with all these museums. You'd like it here.

Out of office

Hear ye, hear ye. I'm headed on a sweet business trip tonight. I return on July 15th. I won't be posting often, but if I get stuck in the hotel, I will update the site with some travel stories. I wish my darn ankle would be healed so I could school some Europeans on their own soil.

Movin' on up

As you can see from the Commish's email below, we are moving up to the Second Division in the fall. It's a nice reward for an excellent season - actually, our best season ever.

The Second Division will likely consist of the following 10 teams: 

DC Thunder

Hoover FC

Armory (they may fold)

DC Divided

Far Post

Funky Town

Prism

Lost Tourists

Goleros

Flirting with Sobriety.  

Taz Devils and Diplomats, who were in the Second Division, will likely move up to First Division, while Prism and Lost Tourists will likely come down to take their place.  To make room for Goleros and the Flirts, the Red Devils and Buena Vista Soccer Club will move down.

One more note about promotion and relegation.  Both Black Haggis and Team X are likely moving up from First to Premier.  One of our former players, Justin, is a star midfielder for Black Haggis.  And Team X's rise demands respect.  A year ago they were playing in the Third Division.  They cruised through First and Second division in one season each.

Hello all,

We have officially wrapped up our Spring 2008 CCSL season and I want to congratulate the playoff champions. Interestingly enough, yet again, none of the regular season division champions (three of whom went undefeated) won their respective playoffs. Really speaks to the parity and quality of play throughout our league.

Premier: Conquistadors took a forfeit title from Booters FC (Booters won regular season title)
D1: Team X defeated Black Haggis 3-2 (Haggis won regular season title)
D2: Diplomats defeated DC Divided 3-1 (Taz Devils won regular season title)
D3: Flirting with Sobriety defeated Goleros 4-1 (Goleros won regular season title)

To reiterate, regular season and playoff champ have option of promotion with bottom two teams faced with relegation.

Thanks to everyone for another great CCSL season. We all very much appreciate everyone’s flexibility and patience with the inordinate amount of rainouts and reschedules that we had.

Just to put a placeholder for you all for the Fall, we are tentatively aiming at having the captains meeting on Monday Aug 4th with a season start on Sunday August 24th.

It would be helpful for me also to know if you are planning on coming back for the Fall season as it will help us get a sense of how things are shaping up. So if you could email me back and let me know (yay, nay, or not sure), that would be appreciated.

As always, any feedback on ways we could improve is always welcome and if anyone has leads on decent fields (college or HS alums, personal contacts, or otherwise), we always want to try and pursue those.

Thanks and have a great summer!

Sanjay
CCSL Commissioner

Local soccer team beats opponent 4-1

In a much anticipated game played in Washington DC, a local soccer team defeated their rivals by a score of 4-1.  The losing team is disappointed but still a champion.

No, I'm not talking about the DC United, who beat the LA Galaxy 4-1 at RFK on Sunday.  I'm talking about the Goleros, who were beaten 4-1 by Flirting with Sobriety at Wakefield HS.  

Buzz kill.  Our streak of 14 games without a loss is now over!  We're also 0-2 in championship matches.  But all is not lost.  We remain the winners of the regular season, a grueling campaign of 8 matches.  We are first to be considered for promotion.  We can start the fall season with a chip on our shoulder.

Given the heat and our modest numbers, we played well.  At the half, we were down 1-0 due to a well-placed shot by one of the Flirty women.  In the second half, there was a good chunk of time when we controlled the match, even though we never utilized the wings.  In the end, however, we lost our defensive form and yielded breakaway after breakaway.  The Flirts were able to sink 3 more goals by cruising through the midfield and defense, and beating the last man.  We had committed numbers up the field to try to win.  In the 88', we did finally sink a goal when Anna's free kick from the corner rebounded several times before Ermy buried it.  But it was too late.

Thanks to Anna, Ashley, and Ermy who joined us as alternates.  You were all critical to the match.

Good game, everyone.

Notes: 4-1 loss to Flirting with Sobriety in CCSL finals, 6/29/08, Wakefield HS.  Goal: Ermy (unassisted). GK: Liam.  Discipline: Ashley (yellow).

Time to cast your ballot

You know how this works.

After each season, we vote for MVPs. We typically choose one guy, one gal. You can use any criteria you want: best body, most likely to succeed, whatever.

Cast your ballot now by posting a comment.

I'm going to withhold my vote until I see some comments up there.

The best goal of the season is...

According to your votes, the best goal of the season was Adrian's header in the ClareAndDon's game.

Dude scored twice off his head this season

Let's go back to the goal. We found ourselves down 3-1 in the second half. From the bench, it appeared as if we would lose. No one gave up though. Jon, probably with a little pent up rage, received the ball deep in our end. He made a long run all the way down the right wing. He slowed down in the corner to draw players and then sent a perfect cross to the 8', which an unmarked Adrian finished beautifully. It was a display of power. At no time during the entire play did any defender so much as even threaten.

Bubbles runs like a Gazelle

It really motivated the team and turned the momentum in our favor. Definitely one of the most important goals of the season. My choice was the Deanna-Adrian combo in the Red Tape match, because it gave meaning to the "beautiful game." Let us not forget Chris' goal either - that was maybe the most technically difficult. The best goalies would have no chance against it.

It's time (don't forget your photo ID)

It's time to play our last game of the spring season. Thankfully, we went all the way and will play for the division championship.

Game is at 10:00 a.m. at Wakefield HS in South Arlington. Click here for a map and directions. Show up a half hour early for warm up. The field will be open. This is the same start time announced earlier. I wanted to clarify since there was some talk over email about moving the game up. It didn't happen. The game stays at 10:00 a.m.

Bring a photo ID. You can't play with out it. The league is doing roster checks.

I know we're all motivated to win. I know we can do it. It's important, though, that we go out on a high note, win or lose. Let's play to have fun.

Shootout!

Like the Spain-Italy game, our semi final match versus Quicksilver ended in a shootout. We won it in penalties and punched a ticket to the finals - for the second time in a year. We will face the Flirts , who are solid and sportsmanlike. The finals are their only path back to the 2nd division from whence they came. Yeah, they're motivated to win.

Let's remember how we got here. Our semi final win was a thriller. Some teammates helped me piece it together as follows...

It took a while to settle, since we had some new players. Luckily while we were still settling we got a penalty - there was no argument - Adrian got the ball just outside the box turned and went around their last defender so the goalie came out to try for the ball and Adrian just touched it by him before the goalie got there and the goalie took him out. time. Jon took the PK, slotting it in the right side netting with his right foot and making it look easy.

In the second half, we earned a corner almost directly off the kick. Nate sent the corner in, there was a scramble before Ashley redirected the ball in hard, which Katya deflected into the right/near post with the keeper diving to his left - the ball was just past his fingertips. Since Ashley is new, I will avoid the term I usually use to describe a situation where two women hook up for a goal! Let's just focus on the fact Ashley got a point in her first game and Katya got her first goal.

We gave up two goals after that, which must have been a bummer.

Then it was PKs. Jon, Ally, Adrian, Bri, and Mike got the call. Liam made two saves and saw one miss entirely. And so we won. It was the third time we went to PKs, and the second time we came out on top. I like that trend. Gimme a little credit for holding a practice session last week.

Time to get ready for the finals.

Notes: Semifinal playoff win versus Quicksilver coming off a first-round bye. 2-2 (3-2 in penalties). Goals by Jon (PK earned by Adrian), Katya (Ashley). Discipline: Jon (yellow for dissent). GK: Liam. PKs taken by Jon, Ally, Adrian (make), Bri (make), Mike (make). Liam had two saves and saw one missed penalty.

Olympics

You're an American, I'm sure you know that we qualified for the Olympics in both Men's and Women's soccer. Both teams are contenders for a medal, the women more so than the men of course.

The futblogosphere is buzzing because the olympic rosters are due soon. Who's in? Who's out?

The US women's roster was announced yesterday. It features the usual suspects, with some notable but unsurprising absences. GK Brianna Scurry, in her late thirties, is probably out of the national team picture for good now. Maybe a few more friendlies to end her stellar career. She is replaced by Nicole Barnhardt as the backup for Hope Solo. Two players - Cat Whitehill and Leslie Osbourne - are recuperating from ACL surgery and won't make the trip either.

Here's who's going to Beijing.

GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (Richland,
Wash.).

DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis,
Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills,
Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant,
N.J.).

MIDFIELDERS: Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.).

FORWARDS: Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Amy Rodriguez
(Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

Alternates: Scurry, defender Ali Krieger, midfielder Kacey White and
forward Lauren Cheney.

The men's roster isn't due until late July. Coach Peter Novak and his new assistant, Josh Gros, will have to choose carefully. The base roster will look something like this:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt
Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl
Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan
Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne
(Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie
Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas
USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

But expect surprises. The coaches have to take into account injuries, form, European pre-season, WC qualfying, and of course the roster rules, which require all players to be under the age of 23, with three exceptions.

So which three senior players will go to Beijing? What will the rest of the roster look like?

Schedule finalized - we play at 10:00 a.m.

The schedule is finalized. We play at 10:00 a.m. at Wakefield HS in South Arlington. We played there once last year, versus Celtic.

In talking to people, it looks like we could be short on numbers. Everyone do your best to make the game so we can close out the season and, as Griz said, "win the whole thing."

After the game, a few of us will rush to the DCU/Galaxy game to catch the second half. Then, in the afternoon, it's the Euro final.

Breaking news

We will play the Flirts on Sunday for the division championship. We played the Flirts in the first game of the season and won by a score of 1-0 (game report here). It was a critical and close game decided by a single late goal.

In the playoffs, the Flirts won by forfeit vs Two Left Feet on Saturday and defeated ClareAndDons on Sunday. $10 says the scout we saw at the field in the last regular season game was a Flirts player. I do recall him wearing one of those blue shirts.

No word on the kickoff time yet. We've requested a late game.

We'll get a game report up shortly for the semifinal thriller. People are welcome to send their comments. Must have been an awesome game!

Mark it on your calendar: soccer Sunday!

Get ready.  Soccer is going to rule your life this Sunday.  It's a rare triple-header:

* 12:00 p.m. DC United vs. LA Galaxy at RFK Stadium

* 2:45 p.m. Euro 2008 final

* The CCSL finals (no word on our game time yet - let's hope it's early evening so we can see all the games).