Saturday October 25th
St. Thomas University 2 - Flagler College 2
There went the Conference Title. Obviously quite disappointed to fail to win at St. Thomas and keep the chance of a number 1 seed and conference title alive. But so it went. It was looking good for a while, first after Sean Frye's first minute goal which gave us a lead that lasted for 44 minutes, and then Herlihy's brilliant goal early in the second half made it look good again. Then for some reason the ref decided to give St. Thomas a penalty kick, for what I am not sure because he was in no position to call it. 2-2. They got a man sent off and we headed into overtime. Couple of good opportunites went the wrong way for us, and they actually hit the post. In overtime, the ref in association with his linesman made a strange call that might be costly for us. Red card issued at the hands of Johan Carlsson. "Ref can I have an explanation?" Coach Lynch said. No reply. Absolutely disgraceful work by the officials. Then in second overtime, over 5 minutes to go we are getting really aggressive up in their end. Jorgen is blatantly slaughtered in the box but this time referee didn't call it. Then he calls the game over with 4-5 minutes left in overtime. "Nah, it's getting too dark to play". You are havin a laugh Sir.
But I am not blaming the ref for the results, that is our own responsibility. To give up a goal with 26 secs left in the first half was obviously a mistake that is unacceptable. And there are more of stupid mistakes that come down to ourselves.
Speaking of mistakes. Some issues left me relegated to the bench and limited to a PT of roughly 20 minutes, and that goes back to me for being a "primadonna". I should have done better on the game-winning shot which went over the bar, and their first goal where I didn't defend well enough and get behind the ball. For all that: -That's my bad lads. I'll really strive to get my act together.-
This result will in all likelyhood set us up with a tie against St. Thomas in the regional semifinal. However, in the meantime we still have Riddle at home and Northwood as well before the playoffs. To be honest with you then we are missing King Zola, and in the absence of Mr. Carlsson against Riddle we might even have to squeeze some playing time out of AJ Martin, who fortunately is still among us.
Man of the Match: Some good performances out there on Saturday. Seany Frye obviously had his moments, scaring the opponents with his pace and impressing the girls with his looks. Not too bad. Steve did his share of work up there, and at the back Niall did his usual yelling and running. Pete Young had some nice saves and had his hands on the PK which truthfully was pretty poorly hit by the lad.
Play of the Day: Gotta give this one to Pete Mychalcewycz for almost starting a brawl at Golden Corral. He won't take no disrespect from local blokes. This guy was going to cut the line of Flagler soccer players, but was abruptly stopped by a starving Jackowitz who was eager to wind the lad up. "Where do you think you're going? People are in line for a reason." Luckily this man was wise enough to walk away from trouble.
