Red Bulls Down Direwolves

History repeats itself and yesterday was no different. Red Bulls kept their undisputed win streak against Direwolves. Although, John Altinian took his sweet time in the change room and started the game without any warm up, he scored the opener within his first minute. Ivan managed to block 3 quarters of Direwolves’ attacks all by himself leaving not much work to his friends. Alex had a few opportunities to score, however cut short by a solid defense by Gabe. Also another shot was saved by the Red Bull post. Before the first half was over John A. scored another to make the score 2-0. Second half Direwolves began to press harder and find more opportunities. One of those was rewarded by a goal when Ozan secured a pass from the side and scored from close range. Getting nearer to a tie or even a win, Direwolves started playing faster with more pressure. On the other hand Red Bulls felt generous and wasted a clean shot to an open net and failed to score another one. After all, Red Bulls didn’t budge and game was over in their favor. Red Bulls 2 – Direwolves 1.

Murat C

Nightmares & Vaders in a Thriller

General Trabulsey’s scouting report was thrown off as Dave Ashton took the net for Vaders. The game started quietly with solid defensive play on both sides. A break finally came in the closing seconds of the half as Winnett snuck a pass behind the Nightmares defense to Bob “Balls Out” Tian who faked the shot, passed it across the box, and gave Victor “Better than Ronaldo” Cristiano an easy tap-in. 1-0 Vaders at halftime!

The second half started as quietly as the first, with both sides exchanging goal kicks. Metinho, hearing the snores coming from the stands, made a break on a corner kick, climbing the ladder, and slipping a header through the legs of Dave Ashton. What an embarrassment for the substitute keeper! 1-1! Vaders were now feeling the pressure, maybe a little more than they’d expected, as an aggressive play on the Nightmares keeper won a free kick. With the Vaders defense pressing, Metinho picked up the ball at midfield and found himself 1-on-1 with the keeper. He made no mistake and slipped the ball to give Nightmares the lead.

Down 2-1 with little time left, Vaders threw everything they could at Nightmares. With seconds left, Winnett threw a last desperation cross into the box. Vic got a foot on the ball, and couldn’t believe he missed! Or so he thought anyway… A clear goal and a tie game! 2-2 final!

Update: Teachers’ Indoor Soccer League are testing Metin’s pre-game bananas for PEDs. When asked for comment, Metin insisted, “I swear they’re just vitamins!”

Dave A

Controversy Mars Lightning & Emeralds

The Primetime matchup featured the Emeralds versus Lightning. Seamus and Dylan who are neck and neck in the Golden Boot race, stood shoulder to shoulder in this one creating numerous opportunities for their team. But it was Lightning power forward Aaron St. Bernard who put on a show with a sneaky ball through Emerald defender David Aston’s legs and gave Lightning a quick chance off the post. The very next play Lighting Captain Markos Lau broke the rules and fouled Emerald mid Sam Modarresi.  It would have just cost them a free kick but Markos showing his passion for the game, but more importantly his displeasure with the call (ref), kicked the ball away earning a 2 minute penalty! The Lightning would apply tons of pressure on the power play but the score would remain nil-nil at half!

In the second, Hamid Mirhashemi broke through down the wing and crossed a beautiful pass to Valeria Nunez who put it just wide. There was arguably some contact in the box but the ref still mad at Markos didn’t award Val the PK.  On the other end Emerald’s striker Zach Siewart had an amazing chance from a tough angle. Lightning keeper Prathesh Senthil made another amazing save.  Finally, having seen enough Emerald defense Victor Arcentales, playing his former team, put the ball on net from the mid, Mario ducked (on purpose obviously) and the ball ended up in the back of the net. 1-0 Emeralds. Not to be denied, Lightning pressed hard and St. Bernard would burry to tie the game 1-1.  Just minutes later on an awkward clear by Emeralds, the ball went off the cross bar and out to a waiting Seamus who was there to tap it in for the game winner….WAIT, NO, ‘Bad News’ Hughes made an unbelievable diving save to smack the ball away on the goal line. With Lighting doing the Barca swarm on the ref, General Trabulsey on loan from Nightmares would capitalize and score on the other end.   What a finish! Emeralds upset Lighting 2-1.  After the game, Brad checked with the Hangar staff and luckily they do have VAR.

Paul C