Tender green shoots of grass carpet the Chino hills. Sheep and cattle feast. Meanwhile, on the patched-up turf of Grand Avenue Park, a team of tender teens in black jerseys emerge from AYSO to play in the adult league. Tsunami enjoys age diversity, but even our youngsters in their 20s and 30 might fear the youth of the Corona Strikers. Not to worry—the newest team in our division may also be the second nicest team (Tsunami being the nicest). The girls from Corona had skills and showed no interest in throwing elbows, hip checking or ankle thrashing. They were surprisingly short on stamina for 18 year olds; that may have evened out the game for Tsunami, which dominated possession during the second half.
The first half saw Corona Strikers living up to their name, and keeping the defense and Sammi very busy. The had many shots; we had many close calls. Between Sammi’s keeping prowess and one or two miracles, we limited them to a single goal midway through the first half. They earned that goal: after several blocked shots and a flurry of activity, one of their players finally found the net with a rebound.
Tsunami never surrendered the half, but kept striving to get the ball into striking range. Suzanne’s range extends nearly to the half line, and she had several strong shots from a variety of spots on the field. Most were on goal, but were caught by their goalie. Very late in the half we had a chaotic rally and their goalie’s mitts seemed suddenly less sticky. Pattie managed to head a swatted ball over the goalie’s hands. It rebounded off the crossbar and Leslie speared it with her head and zoomed it into the net. Leslie in front of their net? WTF? She was sweeping! Cara and Leslie communicated superbly, allowing Leslie to have several foray’s into offense with no lack of defensive coverage.
The first half ended in a 1-1 tie, and Tsunami dominated possession during the scoreless second half as exhaustion seeped into legs on both teams. Tsunami never let up. Our newest player, Samantha, fit in like she’d played with us for a Corona Striker’s lifetime (some of us have been on this team almost that long!). And all that with only 10 players!! I’m sure we’ll have subs next week.
