Winter Showcase - U18's Game 3, Monday December 8, 2008

Game 3 vs. Metro United started with the boys still adjusting to the 8:00 AM start time. In the fifth minute, after failing to clear the ball from the back touchline, Metro United collected the ball about 20 yards out on the right flank, passed to an open forward in the box and the score was 1-0 in favor of Metro United. By now you should be able to get a sense that we like to play "catch up"...

Well it didn't take long to even things up. In the 10th minute, Charlie Rugg picked the ball from one of the Metro United defenders, pulled the goalie off his line and found the back of the net, putting an end to the 1-0 deficit. With the score evened up, the boys were looking for a way to keep Metro back on their heels. In the 19th minute, Charlie picked the goalie this time and now the score was 2-1 and it remained that way through the remainder of the first half.

Throughout the second half, we continued to press, generating at least 3 corner kicks. Metro almost evened the score but Brendan Caslin had James Smith's back and got his head on what should have been a goal to preserve our lead. With three minutes remaining in regulation time, Chris Pettiglio picked up an errant pass by a Metro defender, pulled the goalie out and the score was now 3-1 in our favor. Metro didn't threaten through the final 3 minutes of regulation or 2 minutes of stoppage time and we had our second win in as many days.

Congratulations to Sam Kelley who was awarded "Man of the match" honors for his outstanding play in the game.

All in all it was a successful weekend for the 18's who picked up 7 points, beat two teams who were almost halfway through their 2008-2009 Academy seasons, and garnered the attention of a number of college coaches.

Up next for the 2010's and a few 2011's is the Disney Showcase, December 26th - 30th. After that, the 16's and 18's will be focused on the remainder of the Academy season. The next Academy games are Valentine's Day weekend vs. the Baltimore Bays and Red Bull. After that, we'll play one to two games every weekend until July.

Go Bolts!!!