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Queenston FC 2, Amherst Alliance 0

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Queenston FC 2, Amherst Alliance 0 Empty Queenston FC 2, Amherst Alliance 0

Post  Raider9726 Fri Jun 26, 2015 8:47 am

Or is it Amherst Alliance FC?  I dunno.  Anyway, our defense of the Tehel Cup began last night down in West Seneca at the WSSC.  The grass was cut at a great length and the field was nice and flat...except it was hysterically small.  One of our teammates got to the field early and said he read a sign somewhere at the complex that said it's suggested for U13 games.  It made it feel like Alliance had 15 players in the box at all times defensively.  When Netter would launch outlet passes like a right fielder trying to throw out a runner at 3rd base, his pass would land easily on the other side of the field (not kidding).

Leading up to this game, Alliance seemed pretty pumped about this tournament meet up from what I saw in the Twittersphere. When you take that into consideration along with the extra pressure of performing well the year after winning the Cup, all while missing 4 impact players last night (and overall, 5 to 6 starters depending upon availability), the recipe concocted was one of those 'we have everything to lose and they have everything to gain' kind of situations.

But once the whistle blew to start the game, Queenston took command immediately, possession wise.  It appeared as if Alliance was a little jittery.  We settled for some shots outside the 18 but nothing extremely dangerous to a rather impressive back four.  Thought coach Chris Aurilio stood out for Alliance, if not only for his solid play, but clearly the vocal leader in the back dishing out some instruction and positive communication amongst the rest of the team in red.

Perhaps 15 minutes into the game, things started to change a bit.  Alliance grew more confident, or settled in, or both.  Play really evened out but still, both teams' chances were ones outside the box or from relatively poor angles.  By the last few minutes of the first half, I'd say in all honesty that we were really looking forward to halftime. And that's what happened, unscathed at 0-0.

Second half, we lose one of our two main midfield threats on the evening in Ross Suitor, as he was sniped by Josh Beshaw from our sidelines trying to get them over to FC Buffalo Practice on time.  So we dropped to 13 players in total, and Alliance had the same, although Evan Lang left in the first half with an injury so they were working with 12 guys.  This worried us a bit as he was probably having the most success out of any of our players individually speaking up to this point.  But that's when our new addition Troy Brady started his mini takeover in the midfield.  It took a half, but he started gaining some confidence and ripped a few decent shots on net.  Brian Corretore played well in net for Alliance by the way, good command of the box.

Yet the game was still knotted at 0-0 with both teams playing pretty physical.  Alliance was a little reckless at times but just generally physical, which we haven't seen too much of this season in premier.  We're that way, but we haven't played a team like that since maybe Wolfpack last year.

Finally, Queenston breaks through at about the 70' mark when Brady played a nice diagonal ball to Donner, who finished under the keeper's diving arms.  1-0 Parliament.

We had a glorious opportunity to go up 2-0 about 5 minutes later when Brady again got the ball rolling by playing a diagonal to Sims around midfield.  Sims took two steps and he was at the 18', not because he has giant legs, but because the field was shrinking as the game progressed.  It was essentially a 2 v 1 at this point, since Donner got involved in the play for us.  Sims got the ball off his feet as the last defender committed to him, Donner collected the pass as Alliance's keeper came off his line to commit to cutting off Donner's shooting angle, and meanwhile the initial defender now came back over Donner's way.  This left Sims open streaking towards the wide open net and he probably could have walked in a goal, but Donner unfortunately made the wrong decision on this play and took a shot which rocketed over the crossbar.

Because soccer is unkind, not two minutes later, that 'should be 2-0 lead' was thought to be erased to a 1-1 game as we tripped up Thomas Jackson in the box and Alliance was correctly awarded a PK.  Lang on the sidelines said to our bench that he couldn't watch because they've missed like 6 PK's this year, which is crazy if true.  Jackson steps up, but he was no match for John Netter, as Netter guessed right and got low to stop Jackson's shot from the spot.  So I guess that's 7 now...

Queenston would add to their lead with roughly 4 minutes left to play after one of Alliance's midfielders tried to switch fields on their defensive half, and Eric Smith jumped the play, sprinted forward, intercepted the ball with his head and played it to his feet, then crossed it towards the goal and Sims was there to tap it home.  2-0 Queenston, and that's how it ended minutes later.

Game was certainly not easy, in fact quite even for long spells.  This was actually a vintage Parliament performance where we defend well and just do enough necessary to get the win, not exactly pretty.  Alliance should keep their heads high as they'll be playing some meaningful games in August, I can guarantee that.  

Queenston's next Cup match is scheduled for 7/16 up at the Vet against party crashers Great White Buffalo.
Raider9726
Raider9726
EPL
EPL

Number of posts : 241
Team : Queenston
Full Name : Queenston Statistician
Registration date : 2012-07-23

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