Oh, the joys of Parsippany in the summertime. In the previous 5 years, Clinton has earned 4 free vacation days on artificial turf just as July turns into August and the little rubber pellets begin to melt. This year is no exception, thanks to the legions of ladies in Pepto Pink who descended on Foran yesterday to send Mavericks packing.
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| Maryanne ready to outrun and outskill the defense |
Prescience (SAT word of the day) held sway and there was magic in the air. On the way to the game, I saw a cop had pulled someone over by our exit and I remarked to Jen, “Hope that is one of the Mavericks, off to a bad start on the day.” Half hour later, I get a call from Maryanne. Yup, she’s been pulled over on Route 22. For once, Mare was sporting her jersey on the way to the game. Usually, she wears pumps and a slinky dress. Luckily for her, the cop saw the Proactivity jersey and said, “Oh, are you running late to the game? I know two of your teammates, Erin and Kara.” She beat the ticket. I’m surprised he didn’t give her an escort. Our fame is growing! Kara texted the officer and pleaded, “Let Maryann go!” By kickoff time, we had a ton of players, and Mavericks had 5. Hey, you are not from far away- get it together. Once the game actually kicked off, they had risen to 12.
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| Linda going for the perfect pass |
We played this team 10 days ago, and played poorly, and won 4-2 against 9 players. So they must have fancied their chances, having just out-biatched Randolph in the quarterfinals. We were glad to avoid Randolph, but this game was not super pleasant and sporting. Mavs should have been happy to make the semis, but it seemed they were not. They don’t seem to like soccer, or each other, very much at all. We scored our first goal early, 10 minutes in, when Erin took a shot from distance after curling into the center from her left hand slot, and just nailed it. Linda scored right after that. Then the game got physical. It was especially nasty in the middle. The calls were a mystery at times. Once, the ball was way up in the air and Tammy was bearing down on me. I like life, and I like having bones in my legs, so I didn’t jump, just held my ground. She jumped, I got bowled over, I got called for the foul. Hmm. Tony might want to take another look at the definition of Impeding. All through the first half, the Mavericks attacked, but we kept them under good control and Cheryl did a wonderful job setting the line. LJ wasn’t under a lot of pressure. It was manageable. But in the middle, the stew of emotions was coming to a simmer. They had out outsized there, but not outclassed, and they were getting angry. The half petered out comfortably at 2-0.
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| Heather got the first touch...hopefully without a headache |
The second half opened with increased pressure. The Mavs had nothing to lose and they were throwing everyone forward. They are quick, and they looked to exploit the area between our goalkeeper and the back restraining line. But that left them open to the counterattack- and Kelly got on the ball and made it 3-0. We knew we were going to win at that point. But Mavericks did not give up. Kara Light came up big twice in the second half, looping back to cover Cheryl on a challenge, and clearing the ball. But Mavericks did get a goal when Cheryl slid just at the edge of the box, got all ball, but didn’t push it far enough clear, and the score sat at 3-1. Mavericks were salivating at the opportunity to get back in the game. They were agitated- one player was yellow carded for dissent. Meaghan was pissed about the contact in the middle and called another girl a Beast! The Beast said, “You have got to be f#$k&8g kidding me.” She was yellow carded at the next stoppage but it could have been red. There were children everywhere, and she really yelled it out. Jen said that the big number 7 purposely elbowed her way after the ball had left the area. Angel nearly got carded for raising her hands to the ref and walking away while he was talking to her, but he was so quiet, no one could hear him. She kept her cool. Erin wanted to have a verbal go at the Beast after she swore but she waved it off and then we put the game out of reached when Claudia popped up in the box to finish off a rebound. 4-1. You can’t catch us. They did get another goal while I was getting juice for Maryanne’s boys- so cute! And the contact continued. One last sweet moment when Kelly cleanly won the ball off Tammy on a hard tackle and just laid her out. What goes round comes back around. I don’t know when relations between these two teams will ever mend. But we were the better team on the day and fully deserved to advance.
Check out all our photos from the game: HERE
Squad- LJ, Mary, Cheryl, Kerry, Meags, Angel, Lindsay, Kara, Maryanne, Harv, Heather, Erin, Kelly, Linda, Claudia, Jen, Jo, DJ
We play the FINAL on Saturday morning, 9 am, at Jannarone field in Parsippany. Let’s get the trophy back!!!!
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