Round 11: North Falls to Judge, 2-1

THE BUILD-UP
Two of the areas best teams squared off under the lights at UGH to battle for first place in the Red Division of the PCL. North entered the contest unbeaten, having tied two with Judge having one loss. Nearly 300 people jammed UGH under a perfect fall night.

THE GAME
The first half was a struggle for both teams as each tried to establish what it does best. The game for the most part was played between the 18's with no real major scoring chances in the first 20 minutes. However, about 21 minutes in, North lost possession of the ball at midfield and Judge countered quickly. The Judge midfielder was able to beat his defender and goal keeper John McCarthy to put Judge ahead. The rest of the half was scoreless.

In the second half, North came out like a man possessed. If the field was tilted, North seemed to be attacking down the hill. By all counts, North dominated the geography war with the play being in North's offensive zone nearly 75% of the time. About the 10 minute mark of the second half, North was awarded a free kick from just inside midfield. Sophomore defender Mike Zolk lofted a dangerous ball inside the penalty area. Senior midfielder, Mike Gredzlik made a looping run from the right post to the left one and found himself unmarked to head in the bouncing ball. North, as is its style, continued to play uptempo, looking for the go-ahead goal. With about 11 minutes remaining, Judge gained possession off a North goal kick. With possession, Judge was able to send a crossing ball into the box where a forward was able to head past a diving John McCarthy. North pulled out all the stops but could not find the net. Final score, Judge 2, North 1.

Next Game: Friday Night, October 10 vs. Ryan @ Ryan @ 7PM

FACES IN THE CROWD
North soccer always brings out fans, but big games bring people out of the closet. Of course, SuperFans were everywhere, like Ed White (Alumni President) and Tim Murphy, Mssrs. Robinson, Dunlevey and Hooven. Mr. Hooven's son, Jimmy was there as was Butch Oakes (brother of legendary North bus driver, Tommy). Spotted were Hall of Famers, Mr. Pete Hess and Tony Rod. Closet SuperFan, Mike Ferris was hanging out and getting tips from Tim Murphy on what it is like to be a SuperFan. Mike also brought his girlfried to boot (but we won't talk about the blanket because he might mention that two of our players had gloves on and it was 50 degrees out, yeah, it's not football!). Johnny "Bird" Regan sat with Fran Vogelman with Franny reminiscing about what might have been. Former players Mike Smith and Kyle Shearer rooted the Falcons on throughout the night. As the season nears the end, we hope we can get more support.

A funny thing.....
At the door because of the anticipated crowd, there were two attendants at the gate rather than one. Mr. Reliable, Bowling Coach, Joe Ramsey was one and another guy who I did not recognize (probably a Judge guy). Anyway, as I approached to get in, I identify myself as one of the coaches. He asks, "What school" and I reply "North." He passed me off to Joe but before I go, he says "There have been a large number of people saying they are North coaches." Once again, keeping the Falcon tradition alive!