October 15, 2000
Bumrushers vs. Mustangs

For our 6th game of the year, we were up against the Mustangs again. We had shut them out the 2 other times we played them and were going for a 3rd. Today's game was a nice low 80's temp with little wind and some sun. Much better weather than what we were expected. To start the game we only had 1 sub, and had our 2nd later. We had 2 people no-show.

As usual we started out scoring first and fast. Less than 5 minutes into the game Chris sent a ball for Winters who took the ball down his customary right side of the field, beating everyone with his speed, and sent a ball into the box that found the head of Dennis who headed the ball into the net to beat the keeper. Bumrushers 1-0.

The rest of the half was somewhat sloppy play by us. We had some good spots but not like what we were use to. As usual we had many opportunities on goal. With about half of them being sent just off the goal area and a great shot by Pat that hit the post. Defense was getting an offside call almost every time the Mustangs tried to mount an attack. Our defense only gave them about 15 yards on our half of the field. Twice the guy with the short shorts got free but his accuracy was less than decent and went waaaaaaaay wide. Other than that no real attempts on goal for our opponents.

The second half we started out only 1 goal ahead. We started playing better soccer and starting to control the ball more. About 15 minutes in one of our guys got tripped up right outside the half circle in the middle of the field. After Sam told the shorts guy to go talk to the Fashion Police Pat stepped up and shot the ball through the middle of the wall where one of our guys was standing but moved. The perfectly placed ball made it past a stoned keeper for our second goal of the game. Bumrushers 2-0.

The Mustang defense was trying to play a trap on us, but when you get an offside call 2 out of 10 chances, you might want to rethink your strategy. After countless attacks on the Mustang goal we got another goal 10 minutes after Pat's. Pat was at midfield and won a goal kick from Baxter. He noticed Dennis waiting for the long ball and sent it off to the left. Dennis outran his defender, flicked it with his right foot, and then with the defender fixing to clear the ball jumped up and got just enough of his left foot on it to put it over the head of the goalie. After getting up from the contact/volley that he made he knew the ball was in the goal. Bumrushers 3-0.

Our last goal came when Winters played a ball to Sam just right of center. Sam took it for a few dribbles and with 3 guys on him passed to a wide-open Dennis in the middle of the field. Dennis one-timed a shot just under a diving goalie for his 3rd goal of the game. Bumrushers 4-0. With about 3 minutes left in the game a Mustang forward got free. He just barely beat Baxter to spoil his chance for his 3rd shutout versus the Mustangs in as many chances. Bumrushers 4-1. But Baxter still owns this team.

In between the scoring there were a total of 7 cards, 6 yellows and a red. We got 3 yellows from Sam, Brian, and Chris. The Mustangs had 3 yellows, with one of them being a second yellow = red card. The ref wasn't taking any bull from anyone. But then again this ref usually doesn't. Which is good. One thing that I saw that I'm glad isn't on our team is yelling at other players. The guy who got the red cussed out his other forward, who by the way was their only scorer, for reaching back to get a ball and falling down. If that guy's name was Pele he might have an argument, but since he didn't do jack against us he has no reason to do that. That's why I'm glad I'm one of our coaches. If anyone does that, well there is no room on our team for that.

Overall we played a decent game. Not one that would beat a quality team like VFC like we have coming up Sunday. We will need to pick it up a few notches to beat them. And we NEED to beat them. We uncharacteristically(25 cent word) played with the ball in mid-field instead of passing the ball around. This isn't a time to go back to playing like that. If we play our regular game, we should be able to beat VFC and be in the drivers seat to win the division. I see this as a game to kinda throw away for us to relax before our big games come up. Our defense did a great job working the trap to perfection. We will be playing a faster team so they have to be on their toes. Hopefully in the last 15 minutes of the game we will not play tired or else we will get beat. So guys, bring your A+ game Sunday.

Dennis Thompson