October 13, 2002
Memphis Shock at Colts

Just finishing off the first half of our season, we started out the second half against the Colts. Our first game against them was postponed, so this is the first time we played them. They hadn’t played enough to really know that they were about. What we knew was they are always tough, and we have never beaten them. So with decent pitch conditions and 50 degree weather with cold winds, the game was on!

Starting off the game we had 17 players present. Having subs is always nice. Colts had about 4 subs on their own. Throw in the cool temperatures and it made for a somewhat miserable evening. Once we got underway the play was going back and forth, with the Shock seeming to hold most of the early advantage. Not more than 10 minutes into the game, Bishop took a pass up the right side of the field. While his first two crosses did not find a Shock player, this one did. Mark settled the ball down and took a shot. The first attempt bounced off a Colt defender and Mark buried the rebound in the back of the net. Memphis Shock up early 1-0.

A few minutes later, nearly the exact same play took place, except this time another defender jumped in to make sure Mark didn’t get his second of the game. There were other chances that we had on goal that were either straight at the keeper or off target. Our defense was keeping the Colt offense at bay, not letting anyone get thru.

With what we thought 10 minutes left in the first half, the ref blew the whistle. He said that it took us 9 minutes to start play once he made it out to mid-field. I guess he must’ve been counting when he was asking for a ball to use before he blew his whistle and while taking the ref fees, among other things. So at half we were trying to stay warm, all in a tiny circle.

When the second half started we were ready to play. After constantly knocking on the door at the Colts end of the field, we got another one in. Bishop took a corner kick that was deflected to JJ. JJ one-timed the shot that hit off Billy’s big rump and past the goalie. Memphis Shock up 2-0.

Minutes later the Colts won a corner kick. The player took the kick and the ball was bouncing all around back there. The ball was almost cleared until it hit a Colt player and luckily went right to the open player to the side. He settled and just got the shot off with our defense collapsing on him. Ball in goal, Shock still leading 2-1.

That was the end of the scoring for the game. There were a couple of chances on each goal, with the Shock having more and better chances on goal. One of the more humorous sides of soccer came out tonight in the form of passing to players. When I mention this, I mean passing to where the player can run to the ball or the ball if passed to their feet. Tonight, our description of passing to the player was to pass AT the player. There were nearly 10 times tonight in which a pass or even a clear hit one of our own players, and I mean hard. It was pretty funny thinking back on it. Not only did we do this, but the Colts did it a few times.

Overall, it was a quality win for us. Yellow cards given out tonight were to Todd and Jason. The defense was awesome tonight. Other than the lucky goal that the Colts got, the Colt forwards were completely shut down. Walt said it right when he came out for a break, “They’ll have to bring more than that.” Midfield did a good job keeping control of the ball. Forwards kept pressure on the goal.

Dennis Thompson