Season ain't over

We dropped a tough game to close the regular season.  We lost 4-1 to Taz Devils, who made the best of every possession and opportunity.  Late in the second half, we found our groove again.  But it wasn't enough unfortunately.  Ermy had a nice kick-out to Griz, who finished the ball beautifully for our only goal.  It must have been frustrating, because we certainly had effort and good plays.

The standings show us finishing in third, with two teams above us tied for 2nd.  I didn't have a chance to analyze those standings, but they are almost surely wrong.  We are probably 4th, and maybe even 5th since we have a head to head loss to Tsunami.  It was really tight at the top of the division.  A win today would have delivered a title (not a tie).  Whew, that was close.  Shows that we had a good season.

It ain't over.  After that loss, believe it or not we are in great position to make a run in the playoffs.  Yes, we'll have to play 3 games to win.  But we can totally do it.  We are solid and look out if you're Taz and you have to meet us again.  I like our chances.

Schedule to be released soon.

Be ready!


Notes: 4-1 loss to Taz Devils, 10/30/2010.  Goal: Griz (Ermy). GK: George.

Halloween Sunday!!!

Hey Team,

Please RSVP for this coming Sunday October 31 game at 3:00 pm at Galludet U versus Taz Devils. Friends, parents, kids, significant others in costume are welcome!

Hope to see you all there.

Ally & Peter

Standings [corrected]

We got lucky.  Again.  Just as we tied Little Urban Achievers, Taz Devils tied as well.  We had expected them to win and leap us.  Tsunami won as well, bringing them super close to us.  It's a three-way tie on points, with Goleros currently in second place.  Tsunami has a head-to-head win against us, which puts them on top.  We are second due to goal differential.

As discussed on email, we're in good position but we DO NOT control our own destiny.  To win the title, we must win our last game and count on a lot of other things happening.  More on that later.

CCSL>Second Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Goleros	3	1	3	7	12	17	11	6	0.9
2		Taz Devils	3	0	3	6	12	11	7	4	0.7
3		Tsunami Naranja	4	3	0	7	12	12	12	0	0.0
4		Quicksilver FC	3	2	1	6	10	16	12	4	0.7
5		Little Urban Achievers	2	2	2	6	8	11	8	3	0.5
6		DC Thunder	2	2	1	5	7	8	12	-4	-0.8
7		DC Divided	1	3	2	6	5	12	13	-1	-0.2
8		Lost Tourists	1	2	2	5	5	7	10	-3	-0.6
9		Geezers	1	5	0	6	3	3	12	-9	-1.5

Lady Goleros score twice and secure another point

The record-breaking season by our female athletes continues.  Ashley and Anna each scored today, upping the total female goal tally this season to eight.  It secured us another point in the standings.

Smash

What a game!  I hope you enjoyed it.  From the sidelines, it looked gritty and competitive.  LUA sputtered at times, but came at us most of the game with incredible combination play and a very balanced attack.  Their two goals against us were well earned and very difficult to defend.  Likewise, our goals were both quality finishes.  4 excellent goals in the match; basically no defensive miscues on either side.

Jon picks up two assists btw.  I don't want to take anything away from Ashley's goal (a good finish), but Anna's goal was something.  She was in a tough one-on-one situation and she used her strength and touch to beat her man and the keeper.  It was great to watch.

We need the rest this week.  We're really banged up.  With this tie, we will likely stay in the hunt for the title, but it probably won't be entirely in our hands.  I would guess we'll need a win and help from a few teams.  We'll know more at the end of today.  But there are also games next week that will impact us so sit tight.

Well played!  What was the secret to our success?  Who stepped up today?

Notes: 2-2 tie versus Little Urban Achievers on 10/17/10 at Trinity.  First point against that team. Goals by Ashley (Jon), Anna (Jon).  GK: George.  Discipline: Carlos (yellow caution for language - not sure of the technical infringement there).

Our muse

I've been hearing this song on the radio nonstop.  It gets in your head.  Uprising!  They will not control us!  We will be victorious!

What do you think, does it work as our anthem for this season?

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

Standings

We rounded the corner into the last leg of the season.  Here's how the standings look going into Week 7:



CCSL>Second Division>
Rank Team W L T GP PTS GF GA GD GDA 
 1 Goleros 3 1 2 6 11 15 9 6 1.0 
 2 Taz Devils 3 0 2 5 11 9 5 4 0.8 
 3 Quicksilver FC 3 2 1 6 10 16 12 4 0.7 
 4 Tsunami Naranja 3 3 0 6 9 10 12 -2 -0.3 
 5 Little Urban Achievers 2 2 1 5 7 9 6 3 0.6 
 6 DC Thunder 2 2 1 5 7 8 12 -4 -0.8 
 7 Lost Tourists 1 2 2 5 5 7 10 -3 -0.6 
 8 DC Divided 1 3 1 5 4 10 11 -1 -0.2 
 9 Geezers 1 4 0 5 3 3 10 -7 -1.4




As you can see, we're in excellent position.  Really, with two ties, we shouldn't be in first at this point.  There is quite a traffic jam at the top of the table, with four teams in striking distance of the title.  Leaving even a single point on the table WILL result in a drop out of first place.  So we'll do our best!

Here's what an anonymous teammate had to say:

Well, it looks like we are in first :p

 

Teams ranked 5 - 9 all have played 5 games and can not catch us on points AFTER they play their 6th game

 

Taz Devils ranked #2 has only played 5 games, so if they tie or win their 6 game, they jump us

 

They have DC Thunder & DC Divided and US....

 

So you would think if we can find a way to win our next game and they win the next two.....

 

SHOW DOWN for the championship game

 

However, we have Little Urban which will be a TOUGH GAME

 

Others...

 

Quick Silver plays Geezers and DC Divided, you would think those are two wins but you never know, QS has been on a two game slide....

 

Tsunami has two games left, Little Urban and Geezers, again you would think they would win one of these games.....

 

You also have to factor that we have a great GD at this moment and assuming IF we lose, we do not get blown out we will have the best

 

We still can hit 17 points - Best case scenerio:

 

Goleros - 17 points

Taz Devils - 17 points, win on GD

QS - 16 points

TS - 15 points

LUB - 10 points

 

Then Little Urban would fall down based on hypothetical losses to Goleros and TS :)

 

We still control our own destiny.....

Injury report [updated]

Wow, we're as banged up as we've ever been in terms of numbers.

For this week:

Pete - O
Chris D. - O
Heather - Q
Ashley - P
Chris N. - P
Ermy - P
Adrian - P
Carlos - P
Alec - P (but not available)

Rematch! RSVP now for Game 7

Game 7, 10:00 a.m., Trinity, vs Little Urban Achievers.

Will you be there?

Tell us more

Ally's pretty-in-pink game report makes me sorry I missed this game.  Sounds like it was awesome.  I hear Quicksilver was solid, very strong in the passing game, but that we had all the answers on this particular night.

Have any more interesting details to add?  Send me a write up!  These stats are impressive in many ways.  I have lots to say about them actually - and I wasn't even there!

Notes: 3-1 win vs Quicksilver on 10/10/10 at Geo Mason HS.  Goals: Anna (Ally), De (Adrian; forced own goal), Ermy (Nap).  GK: George.

What a game!

Despite our lack of numbers on the sideline, injuries/sick people and the lights going out we played pretty freaking good Goleros. Thank you to Mark again who stepped up big and Carlos and Jorge for making fabulous appearances.

That was a fun game guys and it was really fun to win!

Have a great week and RSVP to the blog early for next weeks game. We have a bye the following weekend and the the next game is Halloween.

See you guys soon.

Ally & Peter

Number 14 took the armband

With Ally and I out for several recent games, Adrian stepped in as captain.  All he did was pick up four more points for us and keep our no-loss streak alive.  We are 2-1-2 thus far, with a solid but still modest 8 points.  We've had two good performances in recent weeks.


I am going to save the detailed game reporting for later.  Maybe I'll update the post.  I didn't witness the first game and only saw a portion of the second.  I will note the high quality of Suzie's goal in the second match.  She timed her run to the goal line perfectly and headed/shouldered in a high cross.  The flow of it was nice to watch.  Mark, blending into our talented midfield, did great and scored his first goal for the club.  He had played an entire season for us in 2004 and then some tournaments thereafter.  Let's also note the effort put forth by Nate in goal last week.  He took one for the team and preserved something (a point) for it.  Nice job!


Notes: 3-0 win vs Geezers on 9/26/2010 at Dunbar HS.  Goals: Adrian (Nate), Chris D. (Jer), Nate (Griz).   GK: Anna.  


3-3 tie vs Lost Tourists on 10/3/2010 at Galludet University.  Goals: Mark (Diana?), Suzie (Chris N.), Mike (PK earned by Chris N.).  Discipline: Mike (flagrant foul).  GK: Nate.

Red Card!

This clip appeared on the Daily Show last night, and was posted on Goff's blog this morning.  Very funny. You have to see it.  The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was playing in a charity match that got a little rough.  Watch him knee an opponent!  Very funny.  Can you imagine PresidentObama clotheslining some Republican Congressman in a basketball match?


http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-7-2010/intro---evo-morales-knees-soccer-opponent

RSVP for Game 6 now!

9:00 p.m., George Mason HS vs Quicksilver.

Are you in?

We need all the bodies we can get.  Word is that attendance will be a challenge.

Game 5 - RSVP now!

Hello team,

We play Lost Tourists at 1:00 pm at Galludet this Sunday. 

Are you in?

Don't forget, they will be coming for us.  We had some scheduling issues that their team may have viewed as preventing a fair matchup.  They were almost relegated as a result before they managed a win in the last week to stay in our division.  They will be coming ready to settle the score.  Will you let them?

3-0 victory

I am told we earned a 3-0 victory this afternoon.

Who had the points?

RSVP for Game 4: 3:00 pm at

We play recently-promoted Geezers at 3:00 p.m. at Dunbar HS.  They will be hungry to show that they belong in this division, which they fully do.  But can we beat them?

The game is at DUNBAR HIGH SCHOOL.  That's a field change from the first time the schedule was announced.

Are you in?

Note: Field location has changed for this coming weekend

Our game is at Dunbar High School in the District.  Originally, we were scheduled for Galludet.  Not any longer.  It's Dunbar.

Please make a note.

Three late goals salvage a point

It didn't look good at the 65' mark.  Our possession was lacking and we were spending most of the time on our heels after yielding two goals.  I hobbled off the field in the 30' with an injury and I was cranky.

But, late in the match, people started thinking positive and just one play turned the whole thing around for us.  Chris N. took possession on the wing about halfway to goal.  He made some moves and sent a long pass to Anna at the far post.  Shot across the goal mouth into the corner of the net!  It was well deserved because Anna had been really good throughout the game, playing quite dynamically up front.

And then she got even better.  By netting two more times, in remarkably similar ways, Anna set a new club record for the first female hat trick.  All three goals came in a 15 minute span.  That's one of only a handful of times we've scored three goals in such a short period of time.  It was great teamwork and thank goodness we took something home for it in the standings.

With that special performance, Anna outscored Roland in the run of play, and that's saying a lot.  You have to defend the guy to understand how hard it is.  Speed, strength, and skill.  We almost had that game won before, in the last two minutes, we lost him by two steps on the endline and he headed in a controversial cross for the tying goal.  It was a tough three points to give up, but just imagine how DC Thunder feels.  They were leading for most of the game and collapsed.

It was a chippy, physical, but well played game by both sides.  Anna wasn't the only good player.  Everyone did great, including Jackie Jr., whose first cap was unusual to say the least.  Diana got her first point with an assist on the last Goleros goal.

On to next week!

Notes: 3-3 tie vs DC Thunder on 9/19/10 at Galludet University.  Goals: Anna (Chris), Anna (Adrian), Anna (Diana).  GK: George.  Discipline: Griz (Yellow, intentional foul on keeper).

Galludet Field Rules

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjay Nayar
Date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 7:54 AM
Subject: [ccsl_teams] Gallaudet

 

Hey all,

 

This weekend is the first that we will be using the Gallaudet field so for those playing there, lets be extra mindful about being good stewards and building/keeping a good impression of our league.

 

Some specific rules:

 

* Players who need to use the bathroom should go into the Jordan Student Activities Center. They should not use the Field House, which is a few steps closer and could be easily mistaken for the "student center".

* Facility rules: no smoking, no pets, no unsupervised children, no cleats on the track (unless briefly when chasing a ball that went out of bounds), NO JUMPING THE FENCE even though it's only 4 feet high...walk around to the entrance near the bleachers.

*Parking available in lot next to field on Sundays.

 

*Throw all trash in proper receptacles

 

Thanks!

 

Sanjay

Note about posting comments

The comments feature on this website is a little glitchy.  I've noticed that I often have to click on "publish" twice.  The first time it doesn't go through.  Make sure that your comments end up being added. 

Remember, you can sign in using your google account.  Or, to avoid that trouble, you can click on "name" and just fill in whatever.  Or you can use the anonymous option and put your initials or first name in the comment so we know who it is.

Easy peasy.

Goalie depth chart taking shape

You probably know that we're extremely lucky to have three keepers.  Alec, solid.  George, solid.  Anna, solid.  But did you know that we have a pretty deep bench behind that?  There's an intense competition out there for the final spots on the GK depth chart.

Adrian has established himself as the front runner for the fourth-string spot.  His chest save this weekend was beyond the capability of a mere field player who is filling in as goalie.  His overall performance gives the team confidence.

The fifth-string spot is the most competitive at the moment.  I have the most experience going into camp.  But Jon has expressed an interest in trying to unseat me.  He doesn't have many minutes back there, but there's reason to believe he would be good.  And let's not forget about Nate, with lots of experience, and Chip, always underrated at the position.  Griz continues to consider himself the last-ditch option after breaking a rib at the position.  Who else from the female roster will step up?

RSVP for Game 3 - DC Thunder

We play DC Thunder at 1:00 pm on Sunday at Galludet.

Are you in?  RSVP by Thursday noon.

Man, we've played these guys a lot recently.  We played them 2-3 times in years past.  And then last season, we played them twice.  Once didn't count.  The other one, scheduled during the week, ended in a draw.  If they would have scored in those final minutes - and believe me, it was close - I think we would have turned around and played them in the playoffs a few days later.  It would have been three games against Thunder in, like, a week.

The first three points

We picked up our first win of the season on Sunday versus DC Divided, prevailing 3-1 in a late game.  The win puts us back on the map and in the race for the division title.  It offers a little solace after the disappointing loss in the opening game.

We started the game with only 9 players, because we had just three women available.  While DC Divided was emboldened during that time, they didn't have many early opportunities, except for a well-taken free kick.  When Elyse and Suzie showed up, we were full strength and the tide turned.  At about the 35' mark, we scored the first goal.  Cat's service into the box was neatly deflected by Chris D. for his first goal in orange and white.  An own goal a few minutes later put us up by two.  Griz deserves a lot of credit for a hard shot from the wing position to the far post.  The shot caused the keeper to stretch and push the ball dangerously back into play.  Their defender panicked and sent a clearance into the goal.  Halfway through the second half, we scored our third goal when I took possession in the middle of the field. Unchallenged, I was able to send Chris N. deep into the box with a flat pass.  Even though my pass was too long, the goalie misplayed the ball, which allowed Chris to follow through.  The hometown scorekeeper (me) gives an assist to the player (me).

DC Divided played well and had the goal of the match to end the game.  After a powerful, Alec/George-like save, Adrian came out of the box at just the moment we lost possession.  A DCD forward sent a long, high, and bouncing shot over Adrian and into the net.

What did the captain notice most about the game?  We were equally threatening in the middle and on the wings.  The defensive and wingers played extremely well, running down balls and getting upfield.  Diana and De had phenomenal games.  I spied Nap more than once approaching the other team's 18 on a run.  When there is adequate coverage and the timing is right, that is such a sweet way to play wingback.

Good game everyone!

Notes: 3-1 win vs DC Divided on 9/12/10 at George Mason High School.  Goals: Chris D. (Cat), Own goal, Chris N. (Pete).  GK: Adrian.

Congrats!

Congratulations on the win Sunday evening Goleros. I wish I was there to be a part of it.

See you soon!

Ally

Fancy footwork

Check out this impressive sequence involving Thierry Henry.  I wish MLS could have more of this stuff.  Click here.