Written By: Kerry Haselton
I should have known it was too good to be true- two lined fields at Foran for our opening match- sweet! Though it was a very hot day, there was a fresh breeze and it was not humid. It may have been too hot for kids to stay in classrooms, but they were happily playing soccer at Foran.
I knew I was getting old when lugging the ball bag and ice cooler to the far side of the far field left me breathless. But the sight of a flock of white clad high school boys heading for the exact same field soon clued me in that all was not right- field conflict, some politicking to do...The boy's coach begged for the large field, and I relented. Just as well- They are young, let them run!
Long Valley is an old time rival and a good team. Their name outnumbers all others on the trophy by a long shot, but we outnumbered them last night. They came with only 11 players- we had 17 by early in the first half. They asked only for a water break, not a shortening of the game. Dave was the lone ref. More on him later.
In any Long Valley game, the first order of business is to corral their best forward, Julie. She has hit us for 5 goals in a session on one occasion and a hattrick on another. I had the mark on her for the first 22 minutes, and she is a handful- fast, clever, very aggressive, and mouthy with the ref. She trounced on Krissy's foot and left her limping by the end of the game. But she did not get past us in that first quarter, and at the other end of the pitch, Kelly scored a lovely goal for us! We were doing a nice job of moving the ball around and passing to feet, and we were good value for the lead.
At the quarter, we subbed in the late-arriving Kara Hines to contend with Julie. Kara gets my vote for woman of the match for her performance at right back. During the second quarter, she and LJ, well off her line, had a near collision, briefly sandwiching the forward, but the ball broke loose on her foot, and Hinesy recovered and won the ball and passed smartly up field. It was a tense moment! For most of the rest of the game, Hinesy played back there and kept things tight. She had an awesome night.
As the temperature dropped, tempers rose. (Image courtesy of Kara Light! :-)) Long Valley kept trying to go over the top to Julie, and Krissy, Hines-y and Angel kept thwarting her. The ball was bogging down in the middle and it was crowded there, but we didn't feel confident enough to go to three forwards against this team. The half played out fairly evenly. LJ made some clearances and we gave up just a corner or two, winning a couple of the same at the other end. We had some chances and shots, including a breakaway for Cheryl, but Long Valley's keeper was up to the challenges. Heather and Erin ran tirelessly on the wing. Lindsay and Kara and Laura Walker subbed into the middle and kept all legs fresh.
We knew we needed another goal. But early in the second half, it was Long Valley that got one. I think it was off a free kick. The ball lofted in and one of the forwards made a slicing diagonal run onto it, and she was all alone in acres of space. She had an hour or so to plan her shot and she picked her spot and scored.
No matter, because we responded quickly. The ever lively Linda Feldman was up field on a breakaway and the goalkeeper came out to close her down and took her out! Spot kick awarded, and neatly, calmly finished by the same Linda Feldman. Long Valley seemed to hang their heads at that point, except for Julie, who kept badgering the ref for calls and getting many of them. Her team kept feeding her the ball, and we kept turning her away. The game was put out of reach by Laura Walker in her debut appearance for United- a sweet start for her. Someone said, "Ok, you can stay!"
Maryanne and Harv and Krissy were playing in the center of the field at that point and Cheryl was mopping up in the back to great effect. Kara Light, Amy, Lisa, Lindsay and I were switching in and out up top and middie. Lindsay did great at wide midfield on the left. Amy had a nice go at forward and she passed well and won balls with back to goal. At the very end of the game, Kara Hines took a well deserved rest and I switched back there
so Erin could play up top. Krissy said something about beer and Julie said even mentioning beer when they were so thirsty was a red card offense. One of the Greenscapes said "I got nuthin left," which is a quote from Officer
and a Gentleman but I decided not to mention that. After the game, the ref cemented his position as our favorite ref by breaking out a cooler of beers and inviting us to join him! I'm glad we got this game in and I'm glad we won. We have many more Wednesday games at Foran after which we can either party at the field or go to Krissy's pool and slum. Angel's pool party at her palatial estate will be later in the season.
Bottom line, we won because we came out played hard and had multiple subs. Thanks to everyone who played. Now, please come out and play again Sunday in Mountain Lakes!
Squad- LJ, Kerry, Krissy, Angel, Maryanne, Harv, Kelly, Er, Heather, Cher,
Lindsay, Linda, Lisa, Amy, Kara, Hines-y, Laura
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