two hat tricks

Amy and Rachel got started early in Sunday's meeting with ER Bound. By ten minutes into the game, they had each already scored a goal. Yours truly arrived just as Amy closed in on a near miss, one on one with ERB's goalie, but shooting wide.

ER Bound's players were more prone than ever to giving the appearance of living up to their name this week. With few exceptions (namely the player named Breeze), they could be felled by a strong breeze, and several spent much to much time whining for calls. Nonetheless, they stayed in the game as a team, striving for chances to score.

Amy and Rachel strove harder though. Amy found the net again in the middle of the first half, and Rachel took a corner kick that Suzanne would have been proud of--arcing the ball over the defenders and on target for the goal. One defender got a hair on it, then it skipped along the ERB goalie's fingers and into the net. Amy followed that with another goal--why use a whole game to get a hat trick if it can be accomplished in a single half?

During the second half, Tsunami mixed it up a bit. Although such mixing up is often an act of mercy, no ERB player felt relief to find she was now facing Staci or Cara on the forward line. Staci wasted no time. On the second possession of the half, she dribbled down the right side and launched a perfect ball over the goalie's head and into the upper right corner of the net. Minutes later, Cara followed with a similar shot.

With the score at 7-0, ERB became a momentary frenzy of offense. They were all hustle for a few minutes, and Patti finally got to touch the ball as the got off a few shots: shots on goal, but none in the goal. As the second half wound down, Rachel executed a needle-threading run on ERB's net, scoring the eighth and final goal of the game and putting the feather in the cap--second hat trick of the game, which ended at 8-0.

Tsunami with two hat tricks:

Season kick-off summer 2011

Tsunami 17 July 2011
The power of ten returned to Grand Avenue Park for the first game of the summer 2011 season. The Tsunami ten faced Gang Green's eleven plus a sub, running uphill during the first half and downhill during the second.

Tsunami dominated possession during the first half, and created many opportunities. During the first twenty minutes, Tsunami gave the GG goalie several scares, but she lucked out as shots sailed over the bar and wide. Once calibrated, however, Tsunami's scoring apparatus capitalized on the opportunities created.

Suzanne set up the first goal with a pass leading Amy to the goal. When she got there, Amy found the GG goalie: the ball got sandwiched between Amy's foot and the goalie's foot. Amy's momentum prevailed, carrying her down to the ground but propelling the ball over the goalie's foot and into the net.

Amy had established an m.o. (for the half at least). A few minutes later, Laura took the ball in to the goal, but was challenged by both the goalie and a defender, who sent her down. She executed a perfect roll, and at the same time the ball rolled into the net. It looked like it just went there all by itself--a birthday present for Laura.

The half ended 2-0 Tsunami. The second half gave Tsunami the downhill run, but GG returned to the field determined to score, and retained possession much more than in the first half. Half-way through the half, Suzanne left, reducing the power of ten to the dangerous nine. Just before leaving, however, Suzanne sent a fly ball from the half line towards the goal. The goalie let it bounce, then failed to grab it, bobbling it over her head. Amy had followed the shot--there she was to head it in right out of the goalie's hands.

With a two-woman advantage and a three-goal deficit, GG got busy assaulting the Tsunami goal. The defense was ready of course, and Leslie, B., Cara, Rachel, Pam, and Jenna stayed on the ball and made it hard for GG to shoot. But since we were outnumbered, GG had an advantage to exploit, and got off a number of strong shots on goal. Patti was a vacuum cleaner, sucking every ball into her arms. Empty net! Empty all the way. GG's last shot was from just inside the left corner of the field. It crossed in front of the goal, programmed to curve into the far side net. The ball danced across Patti's fingers...finally she snatched it. Empty net all the way to a 3-0 victory.

ghu