18th September 2011
Hopkins Beat UMBC in a Mediocre Perfomance
The Blue Jays only Able to Put 2 in Against a Weak Side
By Chris de Laiglesia10am kickoff is never a pretty affair. With half the team asleep, and the majority hungover, the team warmed up on Homewood field for the first home game of the season. UMBC, known to be an easy opponent, were never realistically going to pose a challenge for the Blue Jays, but as the game wore on, it became apparent that the boys in blue were playing at their level. The very amateur nature of the referee did not help either.
The game started with more new faces, as McAbee, Elliot, and Brenner made their first official starts, with Kang, Okinow, Pellicore, Stern, and Muslu coming on from the bench. It was clear that the team had not been playing together for too long, as they struggled to combine in any area of the field, and many tended to hold on the ball for too long. That said, UMBC did not trouble veteran Johnson and Schneider at the back. Brenner and McCaslin kept up the good work as full backs, and often looked to release speedster Roscoe and Lorenz 'Shaggy' Seebacher on the wings. The quality in the center of midfield was apparent, with McAbee and Elliot proving that they have skills in abundance, but at times were not able to use the easy option, and made it particularly complicated for themselves. Up top, the two forwards Nussdorfer and Saganski worked hard, but were never really threatening the opposing goal, and often found themselves tracking too far back.
Despite the poor team performance, there were moments of brilliance, and through some magical touches on the edge of the area by Seebacher were able to get the lead. He received the ball on the wing, with only one player to beat, he cut in, pulled it back away from him to his stronger left foot, and shot across the goal into the right stanchion. The goal put Seebacher ahead of his teammates as the current top scorer for the team. The team did continue to make chances, but were mostly due to individual talent, rather than good team build ups.
The halftime talk had Mandel criticizing the team about its terrible first half, and this led to several substitutions, including Lawson and Carter, who were meant to be rested this game. Also Khan, who had just had his 23rd birthday the night before, was brought in, despite his protest that he felt like he was 'going to puke'. Feeling terrible or not, his class cannot be denied as he got himself on the score sheet a few minutes into his introduction. Seebacher, who was the man of the match, managed to get some space on the wing and cross the ball into the edge of the area. Despite the fact that he had time to bring it down first, Khan hit it first time toward the goal. The shot being too strong for the keeper, was unable to prevent it from hitting the net. 2-0. The second half was better, but still far from what is expected from this team, especially as they had so much time on the ball due to the difference in ability compared to the retrievers.
Overall, not a great performance, but the team managed to take the 3-points and improve their record to 3 and 1.
