FCQ 4 Ukraine 0

Perfect day for soccer (almost chilly) on a far from perfect Rehm Road Field. Wasn't the worst grass field we have seen but it was very soft, super long grass, some decent pot holes here or there and field was maybe 100 yards long at most. We showed with 16 and missing couple key pieces (Kerr, Mastrangelo, injured Kozak, injured Clifford) but solid 16 nonetheless. Ukraine had at least 17-18 guys, was hard to tell with a crowded bench area of fans and players.

Game started off a bit slow mostly due to conditions. Not only was field rough but it was our first grass match since late last Summer, so we had a definite learning curve to overcome early. We possessed at least 70-30 the 1st half anyways with some good combination passing through the center to the OM's. Cullen Ingraham continued his absolute domination on his side no matter who tries to stop him and after a couple of close calls we probably would like back, as well as one great save and couple blocks by their defenders we found a fairly early breakthrough. Cullen smoke 2 guys to the endline and turned inside where he drove a low hard cross through the top of the 6 to Mammoliti who buried it in the corner. 1-0 FCQ 8 or 9' mark. The remainder of 1st half was frustrating as we had the ball vast majority but could not capitalize on several point blank chances. Their offense was basically kick and run which at times found some effectiveness due to the incredibly short field. They had 2-3 takes on goal off these instant/long counters but nothing that truly tested Eaton.

Halftime we had quick discussion about putting this team away and making sure we get a higher press on their defense to eliminate the long ball game. Ukraine was confident with only a 1-0 deficit and could be overheard planning the same attack style to try to beat our Defense with speed and hope of some bad bounces. Unfortunately for them, we were all over their game plan and seized control pretty early 2nd half. Right off the hop we took possession again to the tune of 70-30 or better and after 2 or 3 more misses and blocked shots, opened the flood gates. Goal #2 came from yet another nice buildup down the right side from CM to OM where Ingraham again made the OB pay and fired in a cross, a sliding Mammoliti beat the near post defender to the ball for a perfect tip pass further to Iwankow who made no mistake burying it side netting from 10-12 yards out. 2-0 FCQ 50' mark.

3rd goal came within minutes after some good defending by Lafko on the left side to strip a speedy F of the ball, beat 2 men before feeding up to Fisher. Fish beat his man down the wing and fired a cross to the near post where Mammoliti beat the GK to the ball with a diving header. GK did great to react and get a hand on the ball stopping it about a yard from the line but Mammoliti was quicker to react to the ball and poked it in from a fetal position! 3-0 FCQ 52' mark.

4th goal was again within minutes of the 3rd where this time Ingraham once again made couple guys look foolish in defending, and fired a cross into a streaking Iwankow who used some part of his upper 3rd to direct into the back of the netting. Some calls for handball by Ukraine did not sway the refs opinion rightfully so and it was 4-0 FCQ by the 55' mark.

Rest of the match was summed up with us missing couple more chances to get our GD5 between being too unselfish, shots being blocked or simply missing frame. At this point Ukraine was hanging literally 5 or 6 guys up around midfield which actually did lead to some scrambles in our end to preserve the CS. Refs started feeling bad I think and awarded several extremely weak fouls for Ukraine FK's in dangerous positions but they failed to capitalize on the gifts over and over. Ukraine got its best chance to score off a very late corner where ball got scrambled off 4-5 guys and headed towards goal where an FCQ defender tried to clear but sent it right back onto the foot of  Ukraine player around the 12 yard mark. He unleashed a really nice volley that cranked the cross bar and landed about 25 yards up field. Unlucky for him, CS preserved for us. Whistle blew 2-3 minutes later and we had ourselves a comprehensive 4-0 W.

We get a 2 week break at a time we would probably rather keep rolling as our Defense has been absolutely stellar to this point, and the goal scoring in both number of quality chances and those being finished has steadily climbed with each match. All this while missing coupole key starters every game is very encouraging. Couple nods go to game captain Sean Hanley who has been a rock in the CM for us, with or without Iwankow and Kerr he has provided us the quality depth we need to not skip a beat there if 2/3 are present. Mammoliti played about 80' of this game on one leg and still produced 2 G, 1 A... leader of our offense through and through and is taking it upon himself to get our youngsters firing on all cylinders. When we get Mastrangelo back in the fold next match and hopefully Kozak back later this Summer look out! Ingraham is so far our low key MVP. Playing OM for us despite being a true CM (due to our deep veteran CM) matters not as he has completely annihilated anyone matched up against him through 4 matches, with anything better than the gross-level finishing through 4 matches the kid would have 7-8 assists already. Lastly - The defense in general, but the young guns of Hubert & Lauria have been a revelation thus far. Allowing the vets like Myself, Soemann & Lafko to rest 20' or so each match has brought us back to our 2015/2016 forms when we were amongst the stingiest of Defenses in the BDSL. Hopefully with Clifford adding into that fold if he can overcome some current injury issues, this unit will only keep improving!

We have what I'm describing as our 2018 litmus test upcoming the 1st 3 matches of June with Los Chupras and Dutch on the road again on grass fields and a rematch with the Badgers in Tehel Cup. By June 10th we will know exactly how good we can be this year, looking forward to finding out!