Cat 1 Starts Strong, but Hammered in the 89th Minute |
Cataraqui I 2 vs Brass Hammers 2
Cat 1 Starts Strong, but Hammered in the 89th Minute.
The boys from Cataraqui 1 showed up at Caton's 1 on Wednesday night ready to put a halt to a small losing streak and were looking to bounce back from their worst performance of the season a week earlier. Coach Boyle gave a pre-game talk about this exact thing. "Put the lacklustre performance from a week ago out of your heads and play well tonight."
The team seemed to take the words to heart and put the poor effort from a week earlier right out of their minds and were focussed from the get-go. The play went back and forth for a while and, as the first half proceeded, the back line of Cat 1 got the marking nailed down. But for a few chances, the boys of BHFC were kept to the outside most of the night. Peter Boyle Jr., Dave Ryding, Luke Hampel and Mark Schultes gave the BHFC wingbacks trouble with their speed on the ball all night. In fact, the first goal was a result of just such a nice play up front. The ball was passed among the strikers and eventually fell to Mark Schultes and he beat his man and hammered the ball home, leaving no doubt. 1-0!
For the remainder of the first half Cat 1 played a solid game, not giving up too many chances and pressing the ball forward when they had possession.
The second half started much the same way as the first half ended. Solid play by the midfielders (Roman, Larry Hart and Eoin Boyle) and good pursuit by the wingers (Jason Akers, John Gallinaro, Zac Lewis and Graham Fedorak) kept the BHFC attack at bay.
Cat 1 scored to make it 2-0 when Andy Nador bombed a throw into the box. Roman Zablocki (the Cat 1 Man of the Match) finished with a clinical header.
After that, the Brass Hammers turned up the pressure and started pushing forward, sensing their first loss of the season. The back line (Artek Reczek, Steve Vardy, Andy Nador, Matt Herod, Mark Laprise, Ted Bailey, Ciaran Boyle, and Paul Blais) held up against the first few waves, but eventually one of the BHFC strikers got in behind the defenders and struck a nice shot home. 2-1.
Cat 1 maintained their composure and strung together some nice passes, advancing the ball up the field. Zac and Jason both put forth excellent efforts on their respective wings to press the issue, with Jason performing his patented swing-twice-helicopter-style shot on net and Zac marking a man nearly twice his height!
Then disaster. In the 89th minute a high cross came into the box and was headed home, just out of Alex Fletcher's reach and just under the crossbar. In spite of a sore ankle, Alex played an admirable game and kept good control of his box and picked out all of the BHFC crosses and shots from distance.
It was a tightly contested game with many whistles. After the game many of the players remarked that the game felt like a loss. What a testament to the drive of the team. Having just drawn the top team in the A division table, the team was not content. The win was the goal and anything less wasn't as sweet.
Cat 1 has a game on Friday night at 6:30 pm Caton's 2.
Stephen Stutzman
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