the good fight

Gang Green and Tsunami brought equal desire for a victory to last night’s game. Tsunami kept the lame knee ladies on the sidelines (Shari, Steph and yours truly) on the edges of our seats for an hour and a half of back-and-forth battle.

Gang Green dominated the first quarter, keeping Sammi and the defense busy. Sammi stopped a break-away only to have Gang Green quickly regain possession and have a chance at the goal—but there stood Leslie, who swatted the ball clear with a powerful kick. Eventually Gang Green got a shot off from near the right corner flag. It just cleared the upper left corner of the goal and put them on the scoreboard. After GG’s goal, Tsunami took possession of the game, and gave them very few additional chances in the first half. Tsunami had many chances, including a spectacular long shot from Brittney that almost went into the upper left corner (but ricocheted off the outside of the corner and out). Suzanne would have scored on a beautifully arced corner shot—but GG’s goalie grabbed it.

Tsunami dominated possession during the second half, and GG had very few shots on goal. Leslie, Patti, Belinda and Sara made it difficult for GG to get set up for any shots , and the few they got off were handily stopped by Sammi. Leslie won several foot races with GG’s forwards, averting breakaway shots. The ball seemed often in the middle in a frenzied scrum involving variously Sara, Rachel, Laura, Suzanne and Pam being shoved a lot as they scrapped to move the ball west and GG struggled eastward. Tsunami most often prevailed, and Rachel, Britteny, Diane, Suzanne and Aime had lots of shots. Unfortunately, constant double- and triple-teams inhibited Suzanne, preventing the launch of her typical rocket shots. Nonetheless, Tsunami hammered the goal.

Pam passed the ball down the line to Aime, setting up one of the best chances in the second half. Aime dribbled into open space, then crossed a perfect ball towards the goal, where someone got a foot on it (Brittney?), then Diane--standing on the goal line--almost got a head on it. But the goalie snatched it. The second best chance of the half came when the GG goalie fouled one our forwards in the box, giving us a free kick at close range. Suzanne got a good shot over their wall, but the GG goalie grabbed it.

So we left empty-handed, but not without a calorie-draining fight (over 600 calories burned, according to B’s device). Next week we meet (909) United at 8:15. The good news, however, is that Gang Green meets Cougar Express (at 4:45).

ghu