|
The Xtreme played its first game early Saturday morning against the 93 Lazers from Peachtree City, GA. The team played well and maintained possession for at least 70 percent of the game. Several scoring opportunities went just wide or over the goal. Michael Mingus had a great turn in the second half and opened himself up for a great shot, only to hit the post. The Lazers never quit they only had two shots on goal but made one of them count. After going down 1-0 the Xtreme never quit and created more scoring opportunities. Bennett Smith made a beautiful split run and got behind the defense late in the game as was looking to go to goal. His run was cut short when Bennett fell to the ground untouched and in serious pain. Bennett suffered an avulsion fracture and will be missed for 6 weeks. Get well soon Bennett. The team never recovered after that and lost the game 1-0. The second game was a must win for the Xtreme. They faced another Georgia team, the Titans from Troup County. The Titans had already tied the Lazers 2-2 earlier in the day; this was going to be no easy task. The Xtreme was up for the task; they dominated the first half but were still unable to find the goal. The defense held strong, led by Captain Drew “Nitro” McCrary and Cody “C.J.” Johnson, and didn’t allow a goal. The second half was a joy to watch; great passing, defense and finally, scoring. The team got the ball wide to an overlapping Will Teachey who served the ball beautifully in front of the goal to find a charging Reid Allen who one touched it in to the net. Only minutes later Teachey again found an open midfielder, Evan Moore, who perfectly placed the ball in to the upper left 90 of the goal from 25 yards out: BEAUTIFUL. The team was hitting their stride and they were having a blast on the field. They continued to control the game and you could sense they could smell victory. With 10 minutes left in the game the team was playing to possess the ball and was playing the ball back to defenseman Kurt “40” McLaughlin who received the ball just over the half line. Kurt had no pressure on him and decided give it a go. He launched the ball from at least 40 yards out and the ball never came down until it was in the back of the net. The Xtreme won 3-0 and were on their way to the semi-finals to face the Tornado Soccer Club who finished first place in their division. The semi-final game was early Sunday morning and the big question was could the Xtreme do repeat performance from the Saturday night win. The Tornado was yet another Georgia team from Gwinnett. The Tornado came storming in to the semi-finals outscoring their opponents 8-0. The game was fast paced and evenly matched and it remained scoreless until halftime. The Tornado drew first blood capitalizing on a great cross putting them up 1-0. The Xtreme was not to be denied. Only a few minutes later, broken-wristed Trevor Anderson played a beautiful split to Michael Mingus who finally found the net after hitting the post in both of the previous games. After the goal the Tornado coach asked for the referee to have Trevor removed from the game because of his cast. Less than an hour earlier he agreed to let Trevor play, funny how things changed after Trevor’s assist. Trevor only played for 10 minutes but I can’t describe how big those 10 minutes were. The game was now tied and the clock was ticking both teams were playing well and it could go either way. But it was Cody “C.J.” Johnson who stole the ball from a Tornado striker and took the ball up field and into space. Cody was able to find Michael showing at the top of the 18 and played a perfect ball to his feet. Michael in one fluent motion was able to turn and hit an outside bender to the far post that just got by a diving goalie’s hands. The Xtreme was excited and felt like they now had the game in hand but the Tornado still had something to say about that. The Tornado starting pushing up the field farther and farther, desperate to get a goal. They were able to get the ball in to the corner and across to in front of the goal. The defense was not going to break and made sliding tackle on a striker to prevent a shot on goal. The referee called a foul and awarded the Tornado with a penalty kick. (I still say it was all ball) The Tornado team was excited and just knew they were going to score when they got to take the kick. But the Tornado didn’t know what the Xtreme had between the posts; a vacuum cleaner named Ben “Oreck” Munger. Ben had a bead on the ball from the moment it was kicked and once again came up with the big save when we needed it. The Xtreme held on and earned a trip to the finals beating the Tornado 2-1. The finals Sunday afternoon was a match up of old rivalries. The Kicks Xtreme faced the Birmingham United Soccer Association’s Jets Red. The Xtreme and Jets faced each other 3 times last year. Although both teams have a few new faces the game was no different than all of the last year’s meetings; physical and intense. The first half was great both teams had good chances to score but like all of the previous games it went to halftime scoreless. The Xtreme wasted no time to get going in the second half. Only 3 minutes in to the second half midfielder Evan Moore played a chip shot over the defense to Michael. Michael was able to run the ball down and beat the goalie to the far post for his third goal of the tournament. The Jets were not going to go away quietly. Midway through the second half they were able to get a ball across the middle right to their huge striker who was able finish and tie the game. The Xtreme responded to the challenge only minutes later where Will Teachey was able to settle a pass inside the 18 make a turn to the middle and squeeze the ball between the goalie and the near post to score and put the Xtreme up 2-1 with 10 minutes to play. The 10 minutes seemed like 2 hours. The kids were on the end of their ropes and were trying to hang on for only a few more minutes. The boys were able to dig deep and find something within them to hold off the charging Jets for the final minutes. When the final whistle blew the Xtreme beat the Jets 2-1 and were champions of the Auburn Thunder Road Classic. Congratulations to Everyone...
|
||||
| Coach's Corner |
Auburn
Thunder Road Classic - August 25-27, 2006