CAN-AM Friendship Tournament Recap |
Lehigh Valley Sinks Cataraqui
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One bad game was all it took for Cataraqui to be eliminated from the final of the 2009 CAN-AM Tournament held May 16-17 in Reading, PA. Cataraqui ended the four game round robin in a three way tie for first place in the five team pool. All teams were 2 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss. Only the first and second placed teams would move on and with Cataraqui sitting at -2 in the goals for/against department we ended up being the odd team out.
Lehigh Valley (Bethlehem, PA) and host Berks United played in the final with Berks winning the trophy.
The defining game turned out to be Saturday afternoon’s 4-0 loss to Lehigh Valley. We watched the final round robin game between Lehigh Valley and London to see if we would go through to the final. A London loss would have put us through, but Lehigh Valley, having already clinched a berth in the final rested weary legs by putting in a half-hearted effort -- London won their first game of the tournament. In a disappointing twist of fate, it was former Cataraqui CAN-AM teammate, Pat Burke, who scored the winner for London with about 10 minutes left. (If Lehigh Valley would have won or tied, Cataraqui would be tied with Berks for second place and we would have advanced on the first two-way tiebreaker, which is head-to-head result.)
All that aside, it was yet another great weekend. Lots of incredible memories on and off the field. To preserve the reputations (and marriages) of the not-so-innocent, we’ll leave the off-the-field stuff out of this not-so-official recap.
We started Saturday morning off by falling behind Lehigh Saengerbund (Allentown, PA) but at last we realized that we weren’t playing on the orange team and controlled the ball a little – things started looking up. By the end of the first half we equalized. Huh, for the life of me I can’t remember who scored (that’s a lot of beers ago). In dramatic fashion Rob Lusink scored a great header off a corner in the dying minutes to give us a 2-1 victory. 3 points!!!
The already-mentioned Saturday afternoon game is not one for the memory books so I don’t need to say anymore. But I will preserve Val Tomsons reputation and tell you that he was not in goal for this one.
On Sunday morning, we all shook out the cobwebs and played to a 0-0 draw with London. A game where we had to soak up pressure for long spells. The forwards had a couple of missed opportunities, which they would like to have back. One memory that will stick with me for a long time is Val’s flying save on a well struck ball heading for the top-right corner. WOW!
The way things were shaking out though is that it looked like we had a chance to make the final. Our final game was against now champion, and very hot, Berks. They had scored a bushel full of goals by this point in the tournament. Having a short bench didn’t turn us off our intentions of getting the needed three points. We didn’t assert a lot of pressure, but scored 10 minutes from halftime. Eddie Edwards doing the honour after some hard work by a bunch of guys got him through alone. He and the keeper both dove forward for the ball and Eddie’s toe beat the keeper’s hands. It dribbled in over the line. Our strategy now was to just play for a 1-0 win. We repelled attack after attack with Berks only getting a few shots from outside the 18. Good game from the few forwards who held on to the ball for good stretches without much support. Actually, we should have won 2-0 as Alan Doyle and Rob Lusink swear that Al’s header crossed the line before being caught by the goalie – the ref was at midfield... The 8 “fullbacks” all had great games but mention needs to go to Ross Corcoran whose job it was to shadow the tournament’s top scorer. That guy was sooooo frustrated by the time the final whistle blew. In fact, they were all frustrated and we were basking in the win. That was fun!
You know the rest of the story already.
The 12 who participated this year were: Front Row - Ross Corcoran, Peter Boyle, Larry Hart, Paul Blais, Pete Jenkins, Ross Morton, Rob McDonald. Back Row - (Bill Stewart), Rob Lusink, Eddie Edwards, Matt Lauder, Val Tomsons, Alan Doyle, (Steve Friars, Bob Armstrong). Coach Bill Stewart recruited a couple of ex-Berks guys to support us. Guv and Joe were awesome. Guv’s played only Saturday but his corner set up Lusink’s winner against Saengerbund and Joe put mile after mile on his midfield and fullback legs. Unfortunately, Joe went down with a mild concussion on Sunday after being hit hard in the head with the ball. He couldn’t finish the day.
In the Canada vs. U.S. Over-40 game, Canada didn’t defend our title. The U.S. won 1-0 on a breakaway goal that came about 5 minutes from time. Cataraqui’s participants were Eddie Edwards, Rob Lusink, Matt Lauder, Peter Boyle Sr., Peter Jenkins, Larry Hart, Alan Doyle, Ross Morton and Paul Blais (not quite 40, but who’s counting when no one else wants to play goal). Bobby Armstrong coached the national team.
A HUGE thank you goes out to our supporters: Pennsylvania Ginger, Steve Friars, Bobby Armstrong, Jackie Edwards, Beth Morton and Cara Blais.
Our club has agreed to host the 2010 edition of the tournament. Anyone interested in helping with organization please contact the Prez, Rob McDonald. Also, we are going to try and find two Canadian teams to get the tournament back to 8 – so if you know of a team that would be a good prospect please also let Rob know.
Paul Blais
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