Round 8: North Defeats Roman, 2-0

THE GAME

What a way to start the 2nd half of the season. A late start at 8 PM impacted by a day of rain and mist throughout the night made the conditions difficult. Roman Catholic was our opponent and it was their home game which Lighthouse Field hosted.

The game opened on some promising notes. North controlled much of the early plan and created several opportunities as they kept dropping balls into Roman’s back third. To their credit, Roman covered all of these chances. A couple of shots from Kristian Hall missed the target. Roman’s keeper made a tough save of a hard shot from midfielder, Pat Greer. The game remained scoreless into halftime. By this time, the typical soccer crowd was arriving even with this nasty weather.

The start of the final period was much like the first. North seemed to control the pace of the play. Roman was pinned down under constant pressure. North successfully moved the ball east to west and created several good scoring chances. These shots, like the ones in the first half either found the keeper or missed the target. That all ended about 11 minutes into the period.

Junior defender, Tyler Ward was able to possess the ball just inside the midfield stripe. Taking it forward on a diagonal from his right to left, he was able to slide a pass wide right to our unmarked flank player, Sr. Mike Gredzlik. Mike wasted no time and one timed a pass into the penalty area about 12 yards from goal. Sr. midfielder, Pat Greer continued his run into the box and first timed a ball into the upper right corner of the goal.

From this point, the Falcons seemed to gain in confidence and began to push to goal more frequently even as Roman adjusted with three forwards. This pressure resulted in North’s next goal with about 15 minutes remaining. Sr. midfielder Mike Gredzlik was attacking goal against a Roman defender. As he tried to beat his mark, the defender obstructed and North was awarded a free kick about 20 yards from goal, in line with the right post. Wasting no time, North played quickly and Carl Essenthier blistered a curling shot beyond the wall into the net. North 2, Roman 0.

The score remained this way as the final whistle blew. Roman had a few chances but the work of the back 4 defenders solved most of Roman’s attack (Mike Zolk, Jim Griffen, Tyler Ward and Mark Pugliese). When Roman did have a chance, goal keeper John McCarthy was stellar in keeping the clean sheet. John made 7 saves in the game.

DID YOU SEE………..

North soccer Superfans abounded at this game, as usual, even in bad weather. Messrs. Robinson and Hooven were seated next to one another. Mr. Jim Ashby wandered behind the net keeping an eye on the Falcons. North Superfan #1 (in our books anyway), Mr. John “Baines” Jacober was pacing the pitch. I am not sure if he was trying to be incognito by wearing a hat, but it was raining. Teddy Maciocha, Class of 88 was there with his son. Teddy also coached at North back in 1999.

Next up is LaSalle on Tuesday, September 30th. Game time is 3:30 at Ryan, our home away from home.