Scorers: (McConnachie 10', 55'; Burden 20'; Radigan 30', 60', 75'; Muralt 65', 70')
Rangers closed out the regular season of GPSD Over-30 Third Division Rose City league play with a total annihilation of third place club Petro Kickers. In all fairness, Petro was only able to field a team of seven, the minimum per league regulations for a match to be played and counted and full credit to them for not opting to forfeit the match and just scrimmage. However, it would have been nice for them to bring nets and corner flags and perhaps good-naturedly ribbing us with the comment "well, we tied you with nine last time so we are going to go for the win with seven players this match!" is not the tact you want to take when facing a squad with four more players. Regardless, when the match was over, 'Gers claimed their first clean sheet of the season, scored their highest single match goal tally, finished league play squarely in first place and were well motivated for the Division Championship in three weeks.
Andre DeBar returned to take his place in the Ranger line-up, originally slotted for the goalkeeper's position, but switching with Dan Calkins prior to kick-off for a place on the back line. Besides Calkins as keeper and DeBar as sweeper, Jim Seaton, Jim Snyder and Mark Vogel filled out the rest of the defensive line; Sean-Scott Ingersoll, Aaron Radigan, Matt Muralt, and Ron Burden started as midfielders; and Gary Foubister and James McConnachie paired up front as the strikers. Ron King and Mike Pullen were the reserves for the afternoon with Pullen taking himself off the pitch midway through the first half to protect a niggling indoor soccer injury from worsening. The referee blew play to start approximately ten minutes after noon and Petro--again, full credit--pulled off a bold two man run down the center that caught us a little off-guard and required some defensive scrambling to nullify and redirect up field.
Then the punishment began.
Some patient build-up and possession play led McConnachie to open the scoring about ten minutes into the match with a delightful shot inside the post that rippled the net--oops! My bad! No nets!--rippled the implied space where a net would have been after patient build up play along the right side with James finishing the move up the middle. Burden, having found his scoring mojo the last few weeks, dropped a sublime lob under the crossbar from near the top of the box to double up the score line. Radigan killed off a lovely run through the center after receiving a tidy pass to feet and put it past the goalie after shrugging off his marker and isolating the stickminder at point blank range. Calkins made one of this three blocks late in the half by deflecting a well-struck knuckle ball with a reflex save and the midfield and fullbacks worked well to distribute the ball out and down the flanks, opening Petro up and then pushing crosses or quick dribbles back toward their goal.
After some crazy talk about shortening the second half to twenty minutes, McConnachie took a well-placed cross from Vogel and "thighed" it inside the far post on the Powell Street End. Muralt and Radigan then blasted away on the exhausted defense and scored the final four goals of the match. Sorry, guys, you deserve a more complete accounting of your scoring exploits, but they all just kind of ran together in my head. I remember Radigan had a goal from about eight yards out and I know Muralt scored from my cross that hit King's feet and spilled out to the center midfielder for the finish. Beyond that, it was just pass-pass-shoot-score about every five minutes. Hell, I had to make up goal times in the scorer's summary because I literally couldn't remember how they went. [Editor's Note: Feel free to leave a comment at the end of the summary and give yourself props!] At some point Muralt had another shot dribble suspiciously close to completely over the line but their keeper swore up and down he stopped it and Foubister was also unlucky to not get a goal after a slick diagonal pass skittered just past his run. Ingersoll had approximately 53 shots on, around and nowhere near goal--including a header--but ultimately realized he is really about distribution. Thanks to Burden and the other midfielders who still passed me the ball, anyway. Calkins made two more nice saves, including one from Petro's elusive "8th man" who was an FC77 Newcastle player arriving early for his match. The defensive kept things tidy in the back with good communication and set play marking; Snyder and DeBar worked well together in the middle and Seaton and Vogel chased down the occasional foray into our half.
That's it. We finished the regular season 8-0-2, first in the division, likely with the most goals scored and the fewest conceded, pending today's result from the Chaos-Azzurri match. Here's the thing, though...that will mean absolutely nothing if we don't finish the job and play hard, strong, and aggressively against Controlled Chaos in three weeks. Pardon my language, but the Division Championship will be an absolute motherfucker of a dogfight against a team that believes they can beat us. They truly think that their 6-1 loss to us on the opening match of the season was a fluke because they were missing some players and they would like nothing more than to leave Delta Strasser Field with the trophy. Our trophy. Frankly, I don't want them to have our trophy. I don't think you want them to have our trophy, either...so I need you to be there on Saturday, December 6th at 4:00 p.m. I need you to clear your schedule. If you have transportation issues, you need to contact me and I will get you there if I have to drive to your house and get you myself. If you have child care issues, you need to bring the wee ones to the match or get a babysitter. If you have an office Christmas party starting 6:00 p.m. that same night over by Washington Square, you need to tell your boss that there is a really good chance you will be very, very late, stinking of sweat, and perhaps with little bits of rubber field embedded in your legs. (Oh, wait, that's me. Never mind.) I don't ask a lot, but I need you to be there for the last match.
Guys, we've earned this. Let's stay focused, not get too cocky, play our game, and end this season as champions. Last spring was one of the best soccer seasons I have ever had. 90 more minutes and we can do it one more time.
GPSD O-30 Third Division Rose City Championship
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Delta Strasser Field, Delta Park, Portland
4:00 p.m. KO
FC77 Rangers v. Controlled Chaos
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