April 21, 2002
Memphis Shock vs Kodiak FC

In the return match there were some bad feelings stirred from what was posted on our message board. We were very confident that we would come out with a win today. A win would be huge for us. Gametime conditions were mid 70’s and lush pitch conditions.

From the starting whistle we were on the attack non-stop. Minute after minute we were pressing down hard on their defense to jump out to an early lead. Finally, after 15 minutes, we got the chance to grab the lead. Kip tracked down a cleared ball and sent it over to Jordan. Jordan passed the ball up to Dennis who centered the ball. A few people went up for it and Kevin ended up with the ball on his foot. He got tripped up which gave us a free kick from about 25 yards out. Bishop shot low and hard and got a very slight deflection off the wall. The keeper got a hand on the ball but not enough to stop the shot. Memphis Shock with the early lead at 1-0.

After more dominating play by us the score line was changed once again. Mark stole a ball away from a Kodiak midfielder and passed it over to Bishop. Bishop sent the ball to the left to JJ who was waiting to beat his man. JJ settled the pass and made a run for the goal. He didn’t get as much on the shot as he wanted but it was just enough to give the keeper enough fits to make him misplay the shot. Shock up 2-0.

There were countless other times that we could’ve had goals, but shots were either wide or blocked. In what was a very questionable call, Jeremy Lindsey got a yellow for getting all ball from a slide tackle. Jeremy slid in and cleared the ball 25 yards. The Kodiak player, feeling embarrassed, got up in Jeremy’s face. Jeremy acted like he wasn’t even there. The ref came running over and gave both players a yellow. From what we understand, the reason Jeremy got one was because he had had a couple fouls in the last couple of minutes. Maybe had the ref said something first the yellow wouldn’t have been warranted. Bad call.

This was the best half we had played all year long. You couldn’t even compare this to the last game we played Kodiak. We were hustling, winning balls, and wanting to win. Out of the first 45 minutes, I would say about 30-35 were spent on the Kodiak side of the field. Other than a few runs that produced nothing for Kodiak, there were no threats on goal.

At halftime spirits were high. Since CFC lost right before our game we knew if we won today it would be our title to lose. All we had to do was finish the game out with a W. As you will see it was an adventure.

Coming out hard was still the name of the game for us. On one of the few chances that Kodiak made it to our 18, they got lucky. From the shot Baxter dove and saved the ball by punching the shot out. The ball didn’t clear the goal area and the shooter followed the shot and scored. Shock still up 2-1. About 7 minutes later Kodiak was awarded a penalty kick when Walt and a Kodiak forward both went down just inside the box. The kick taker blasted the shot bottom left to tie the game at 2-2.

Needless to say we were a little perturbed after this chain of events. For roughly 8 minutes we were playing dead, no energy. One simple play changed all that. Kevin came back and stole the ball from an opponent. He then sent the ball up to newly acquired Thomas on the left side. Thomas dribbled the ball up the left side of the field. At about the 18 he kicked the ball into the center. JJ got just enough flick on it to get it just over the middle defender. Jeremy trailing on the play settled it and his shot hit the back of the ole onion bag. Memphis Shock regains the lead at 3-2.

Minutes later Walt took a pass all the way up the right side of the field from just behind the midfield stripe. At the end of his run he centered the ball in which Thomas finished off the cross with a goal. Shock up 4-2. After Bishop got completely up-ended on a play where the Kodiak player didn’t go for the ball, the ref blew the whistle three times to end the game.

This was a big win. Not only did it put us 4 points clear of the second place team, but now we have the advantage in a tiebreaker against Kodiak. We just have to make sure that we don’t blow it in our last 4 games. We played our best game so far this year. Our passing was precise, our hustle was awesome, our pressure was sweet. And we kept our mouths shut on what were deemed bad calls. The captains did a good job on Jeremy’s situation, not getting all hostile. Having 3 subs helped us out a little too. All around, great game.

Dennis Thompson