September 29, 2002
Memphis Shock at Storm

After our last game was cut short by lightning 20 minutes into the game we were eager to play a game of soccer again. After having a few rainouts, we were playing a team named Storm who coincidentally hadn’t had any rainouts so far this season. Almost wants us to change our name to Memphis Flood. This game saw the return of Todd and the addition of Mike. Game day conditions were in the high 80’s with very little wind and absolutely horrible pitch conditions.

We started the game off with 3 subs and the last one coming about 8 minutes into the game. We started off pretty quickly. In the 12th minute, Baxter punted the ball and it got deflected to Todd. Todd one timed a pass to Kevin. Kevin sent the ball outside to Matt. Matt passed inside where JJ made a dummy run and John took the pass. John dribbled left past 2 defenders and shot low back post for a goal. Memphis Shock up 1-0.

A lot of the play this half was in the midfield area. Sometimes there would be a quick rush on goal, but nothing would come of it. The Storm got a goal out of not much. A pass from the outside was switched to the right, and the defender got a head on it but not enough to push it far away. A Storm player who was following came running up and shot the ball through a crowd across the box and into the goal. Game tied 1-1. With minutes left in the half, JJ took a ball around the left side and fired a shot that all the keeper could do was knock it out for a corner kick. A few minutes later the ref called half.

At halftime we all went in the shade and talked about why the last part of the half we had been playing like little kids. Here’s comes the second half, and what a bad one it was for us.

With the atrocious pitch, and some bad hackings, injuries became prevalent for us. Two players had already picked up injuries, one that took him out of the game and the other he was at maybe 50%. The worst injury was when Keith was trying to block a free kick, he apparently landed wrong and his kneecap popped out of place. Since Keith is a monster who feels no pain, he popped it back into place by himself. The outcome is Keith will find out next week the status of his injury, but this season looks like its over for him. Too bad, cause he was playing great. For the rest of the game we had another 7 or 8 guys have to limp off the field at one time or another. Another blow was when Walt got a red card. Him and some dude got tangled up, Walt turned around, and then Walt got a red and the Storm player got a yellow.

There was light though. After John was fouled in midfield, Kip took the free kick. He sent it in the box to Billy. Billy trapped the ball and turned and shot near post for a goal. Shock back on top 2-1.

A few minutes later we nearly put in the dagger. JJ sent a ball up to John. John slid to shoot the ball and it went just inches wide. Later, Todd laid off a pass to Matt who’s shot went just wide of goal also. We dodged a huge bullet. Baxter couldn’t keep control of a shot, and while he was trying to grab control of it, a Storm player knocked it out of his hands and another player scored. The center ref called the goal off. The expletives that were yelled out from the Storm would’ve made a sailor blush. But it doesn’t matter, it still wasn’t a goal.

With minutes left in the game, we got the cushion we were looking for. Jason was fighting for a ball in midfield, and after winning it he passed to the middle for JJ. JJ took a couple of dribbles and slotted the ball past the keeper for a goal, 3-1. Minutes later the ref blew the whistle to end the game.

This was a hard game for us. We did play well for most of the game but once Storm got their goal we lost our composer for a bit. We got through it and came out on top. Congrats to the guys for their hard work. Hopefully we can keep up the good work and make a spirited run to the D2 Championship.

Dennis Thompson