March 8, 2001
Memphis Shock vs Town

You wonder how much more luckier could we get for the Challenge Cup?? Our first draw gave us a bye for the first round of games and then either the Rowdies or Dark Side for our first game. And then they moved the Cup back even later, and we get the Town. D1, last years Cup runners-up. So, we had no choice but to play.

After moving our game to different fields, dates, and times we finally got to play. After a fairly nice day it turned cold game time. We started out with 9 players, with 2 showing up within 10 minutes and then 3 more 5 after that. From the starting whistle Town started controlling the game. They moved the ball around as if they were all from the same womb and shared the same brain. We were back on our heels. About 15 minutes into the game the Town broke through. Off of a corner kick, the ball was knocked down from a Shock defender which found the foot of a Town player who shot a ball that would’ve nearly stopped if the wind was blowing. But, he shot it in the right place. It megged 2 of our defenders and another Town forward split his legs and the ball limped over the line. Wimpy shot, unlucky goal. Town 1-0.

After we brought in some fresh legs we started mounting some runs. Most of the play in the first half was in our half of the field. We were holding our own though, making the Town shoot balls from outside the box that we deflected by our defense. With just over 10 minutes left in the half a non-call resulted in a goal for the Town. Sharp was running with a ball that he won on the right side when the guy that he stole the ball from retaliated and took him down from behind. That’s usually a free kick, if not a yellow. But no go. Play stopped for what seemed like 5 seconds with every one of both teams expecting a whistle. The guy got back up, sent a ball for his forward, who centered and the goal scorer shot a pretty volley that ripped the back of the net. Great non-call if you are a non-Shock fan. Town 2-0.

Going into the half we were feeling proud of ourselves. Considering we are in D4 and they are in D1 I guess you could expect a much higher score at half. But not the way we were playing. We were holding our own. Had it not been for a few through balls to our forwards that hit the back of the runner, we coulda managed some more attacks. We had a good first half. We played the second half even better.

The start of the 2nd half was some of the same 1st half. Town keeping the ball in our half of the field a lot of the times, with us making an occasional run. As time ran by, we were playing with more confidence and making many many more runs. Making better runs up front had our defense actually pushing up. After a couple of runs, the Town got another lucky goal. Our defense tried to clear a ball that hit an opponent and it deflected to a bad guy on the right side of the box. Tim slipped trying to cut back helped out the Town. The player with the ball shot the ball and it ever so slightly tipped Tim on the head and deflected it just enough to get past Baxter. Town 3-0.

The Town’s coach was getting a little upset. Yelling at his players telling them they were making it hard on themselves. Which is false, we were making it hard on them. We were also the reason that not too many shots were being sent on goal. Our guys would get in their face and change their minds. Yes, they did get a lot of shots on goal, but not too many of them were serious. The scoring finally ended with a Town player grabbing a loose ball and dribbled past 3 of our guys and slipped one on the ground past the keeper. Town by a final score of 4-0.

We lost, but by that score was an accomplishment. We started growing confidence, and knew that we could hang with this team, even if it was in a defense way. Baxter showed why the Town was trying to steal him from us. We love it that he decided to stay. Only 2 goals were legitimate. He was on the ball tonight. I would put him up against any keeper in the whole GMSA. He was in charge of the defense. The defense responded well. We knew it was gonna be a rough game, but we were just as tough back. We did get a couple shots off. A few on goal. This one defender managed to deflect 3 point blank shots by himself in a 10 second span. Boy did I hate that.

The guys that we picked up have really impressed me. They have brought an element to our team that we haven’t really had. You’ll figure it out when we play you and they pass you in the blink of an eye. Or they juke around you. Our defense is really strong picking up some strong defenders. Good game considering whom we played. Let’s keep it up for the year.

Dennis Thompson