October 25, 2001
Memphis Shock vs Kodiak Futbol Club

We started the first 10 minutes of the game off with J.J. in goal due to an injured shoulder from Baxter. Unfortunately, he might be out of goal for the rest of the season. Not a worry, we've got some capable back-up keepers. For the first 15-20 minutes we had Kodiak on the run as we were constantly sending balls in the middle of the box that would just barely be kicked or deflected away. An extremely lively ball didn't help out either team also. We had a few shots on goal that we not hit hard enough to give the Kodiak keeper any trouble. Our first good chance on goal happened when Matt sent a ball in from the left side of the box that was back healed from Dennis to Baxter who missed the post with a left foot by inches.

Kodiak did get some momentum building up halfway through the first half. Although they weren't pressuring the goal like our forwards were, they were winning balls in midfield. In a mad scramble in the goal box, Chris, who relieved J.J. in goal, came sliding in to get to a ball. The ball got away from him before he got to it, and while he was trying to get back up, a Kodiak player was on top of him. So Chris and the guy decided to get up basically at the same time. Chris knocked him over and a penalty kick was awarded. Number 7 on the year. I'm not sure whether this one was deserved cause both were trying to get up and Chris didn't make any kind of special gesture to knock him over. Anyways, the guy for Kodiak came up to take the pk. Chris used his Jedi mind trick and waved his hand saying "You will miss the goal completely." And it worked. The guy shot right and completely missed the goal.

Starting at this time and during a 15 minute stretch, the ref decided to give out 3 yellow cards. The first one was given to Chris who asked Baxter if he can move on the line on the pk cause the ref told him he couldn't. So the ref heard the question and gave Chris a yellow card for not knowing. Chris did want me to point out that after the game the ref apologized and said that he could've handled the situation better because he didn't know Chris wasn't our regular goalie. The second yellow came when Robert for Kodiak cussed at himself for making a bad pass that went out of bounds. The last yellow came when a player went down near the Kodiak box, and J.J. said something to the ref and he gave him a yellow. Other than this little stretch, the ref didn't hand out any more yellows or disrupt the flow of the game.

Once again at halftime we were tied at nil-nil. Other than the pk for Kodiak they hadn't really threatened our goal and we had threatened theirs pretty frequently. The temperature had seemed to have dropped 15 degrees since the game started.

With a lot of the play being in the Kodiak side of the field, the first real chance on goal was unfolding. Todd took control of a ball in the back and dribbled to near midfield. He sent the ball up front to Dennis who outpaced his defender to the ball. The keeper stood still first but decided to come out. Near the 18 Dennis one-timed a bullet that struck the keeper in the stomach and bounced to Mark who shot the rebound over the net. More chances on goal resulted in shots going over the crossbar or passes being sent just a tad too far for the forwards. Our defenders were giving the Kodiak front line fits.

About midway thru the second half we took the lead. Bishop took a ball from the back and dribbled to midfield. He slotted the ball up to J.J. in between 2 defenders. J.J. out ran his defenders and with ease shot the ball far post past the keeper that nicked the post and went in. Memphis Shock up 1-0. Then play started to get a little more physical. The difference in this game and the game against Hotspurs was the tackling in this game was not with any intent to injure. Not to mention a whole lot of players know each other so that might also contribute to the clean physical play.

With Kodiak pressing to come away with at least a tie they were pressing more guys up. With our stout defense the chances were all for naught. We nearly got another goal when Nathan controlled a loose ball and forced the keeper into making a jumping kinda diving save. But minutes later Nathan did get one past the keeper. Newly acquired Rob took a pass from the left side of the field and dribbled in into the center. He picked out Nathan on the right side of the field and hit him in stride. Nathan took a couple of dribbles and fired into the goal that the keeper had no chance on. Memphis Shock leading 2-0.

We decided to drop back an extra defender for safety. Five minutes after Nathan's goal the ref blew the whistle to end the game with a 2-nil score in favor of the Memphis Shock and had Chris Brown recording his first clean sheet of his Shock career.

For the first time in a while, we played better in the second half than we did in the first. We played extremely well tonight, better than I think we have played this year. Let's start off with J.J. and Chris in goal. The only time in the first half there was a chance for Kodiak to score was on the pk. Second half, a shot that was deflected by one of our defenders that went out of bounds. Kodiak didn't have any threatening shots on goal. Just a whole lot of balls that went wide or over the crossbar. In defense, Kip and Todd have solidified the D. In midfield, they have gotten better being able to take control of games and dropping back to help the defense out when needed. And up front, constant pressure on goal has made our forwards learn to play together better. We might not have the number of goals that we would like, but we are playing extremely well up front.

This has been a good start to the second half of the season. So far we are 1-0-1. A little boost was given to us when we were informed that last game against Kodiak they played with an illegal player, which by GMSA rules gave us a forfeit win of 2-0. Sunday we have a game against the Rowdies who we have not been able to beat yet. Here's hoping for a win Sunday.

Dennis Thompson