Pelicans FC White

On a beautiful Sunday morning at Silverbacks Park, the Pelicans’ D3 Team went out to put their past few games behind them and take some points from the leading team in their Division 3 Blue bracket, the Buckeye Silverbacks (which I assume is a mix between an Ohio State fan and a gorilla – wait, aren’t all Ohio State fans gorillas anyway; just kidding Mr. Eskew). The Pelicans haven’t won a game since their mid January forfeit in which the other team didn’t show up with a full roster, but the stars were aligned and the weather was amazing for soccer on this 7th day of March. I don’t even think Chuck brought the long sleeve jerseys because this day was definitely a short sleeve white jersey day. We had 11 players by game time (no subs).

For a team who whines about their lack of playing time, this game would have been one to come to if you wanted to play soccer, b/c the rumor was that one of our guys (Kevin ‘the backstreet boy’ Littrell) would have to leave at half time which would leave us down a man for an entire second half. Not only that, but the Pelicans that did show up had a combined 4 games in front of the net, meaning very little Goal Keeping experience. Our normal goalies weren’t available for this game, so one of our field players had to take the reigns in goal. Due to the lack of subs, Chuck thought it would be smart to put Michael Clark in goal due to his lack of fitness and cat-like reflexes. Little did Chuck know that yelling at your teammates and praying that the ball doesn’t come screeching at your face at 95 miles per hour is physically draining as well for the Clarkster.

This writer was very proud of his Pelicans team who controlled a good portion of the game. They played very well as a team and were able to muster up quite a few scoring chances. They were easily the best team out on the pitch. Unfortunately the final score didn’t show how valiantly this team played, losing 2-0. It was much closer than the score says though. And that Clark guy in goal was a beast. Not only did he make a few daring saves, but he looked hot doing it. Too bad he’s not gay, because this guy would love a ride on the Mikey-Train. The rumor on Michael (they all call him Clark) is he’s more like Barney Stinson from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ not the actor who plays him, NPH. But that’s actually just a rumor that he started. Sad.

Moving on to the game, the Pelicans came out on fire, challenging for every ball and playing with their hearts on the field. About 30 mins into the game, the Silverbacks had a corner kick. The ball came flying through the air into the 6-yard box. Clark went out with his fist and nailed that sucker out of danger. Too bad he was too busy looking for someone to brag to about his massive punch, because the ball went to a bad guy on the other side of the six. In their attempts to clear it, 2 Pelicans touched the ball on it’s way to the back of the net in the far corner away from the goal keeper who was still admiring his mad skills. Needless to say, that was the last corner kick by the Silverbacks that didn’t have a back postman guarding the weak side.

Up top, Alex had a few great chances…one where he got behind the defense and had a breakaway against the keeper, who in a sliding attempt to stop a shot through his legs, barely got a piece of the ball which carried wide of the goal. Mike Lamond had a chance as well, as did pretty much everyone on that side of the field. We just couldn’t score. Will also played forward this day, a spot he’s not used to when playing for the Pelicans. He hurt his ankle really badly earlier in the week and we needed him to sit up top and shadow the sweeper. Will played a great game even though he wasn’t able to turn quickly on that gimpy leg of his.

At halftime, Kevin left for personal reasons and Bob went to the bathroom. We didn’t think he’d be coming back, because he was gone a long time. Facebook pictures tell a story of a bachelor party and lots of heavy drinking in his recent past. Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to take cameras with you on those trips, Bob? Well, Bob made it back in time for the whistle and he even headed the ball a few times. Bob played really well controlling the center of our attack. We played the entire half a man down, and it showed.

The Pelicans still looked to control a lot of the half, however, they got caught outnumbered on defense a lot. Mike (the new guy who was wearing another guy’s pants – something about not having time to purchase his own; this writer doesn’t believe that story) played great coming back on defense. As did Tim and Mike Lamond. Ryan, Sean and Jack controlled the defense in front of Clark and as a team were able to clear almost everything that came their way. The other team had quite a few breakaway chances, but seemed more interested in passing the ball around instead of going straight to goal against an inexperienced keeper. It must have been those massive 8 in python arms that made their guys weary of driving straight for Clark’s goal. The home team had a free kick just outside the 18-yard box, and their striker, who had 17 goals in the league prior to this game, cranked one just over the head of the Pelicans’ keeper. But just before the kick, I saw the keeper turn to his 3 posts and tell them to put up an invisible shield across the goal, very Patrick Roy-esque. It worked and the ball dinged off the cross bar and out to safety. 5 Pelicans worked as a team to clear the ball from danger.

That same striker came down a few minutes later, with about 7 minutes remaining in the game, and got passed a few Pelican defenders. As he crossed into the 6-yard box from the side corner, Clark hugged up against his side post as if to say “you better pass it because it’s not coming in here, bia.” That guy didn’t like Clark’s attitude and by reaching his leg back for some extra strength, zinged the ball right between Clark and his goal post. Most people thought the shot went wide, but after examining the side netting, it became clear that the guy must have shut down Clark’s impenetrable defense system and scored a goal right through the heart of the courageous goalkeeper.

One thing that Clark likes to work on with his goalies is distribution out of the back. I felt most of Clark’s goal kicks went at or near a Pelican player, something the team has struggled with this year. This Pelicans team normally just doesn’t move around to help the goalie, but today they did a good job. Most of the time, they were able to do something about it and start on the offensive. Other times, there were bad touches that put the Pelicans on defense immediately. Clark also kicked a few balls directly to the opposing team as if saying, “shoot it, I dare you. I’ll give it right to you and I’ll stop your shot at point blank range with no defenders, you pansy.” I’m not going to say whom that reminded this writer of, but if you are out there, you know who you are.

All in all, valiant effort by the Pelicans in the loss. I think the addition of Mike ‘the new guy’ up top along with healthy numbers will provide this team a great chance to wins some games down the stretch.

STARTING SIDE: Alex (Mr. Longhair) Cameron, Mike (the new guy whose last name I can’t remember) Hill???, Mike (my tattoos are faster than this defense) Lamond, Tim (I’m bigger than Michael, so no nicknames here please) Warner, Will (pass to my feet please) Holland, Jack (I got your defense) Flicker, Sean (don’t ask if anyone is tired b/c I’m old and I have kids. What do you think?) Coxen, Ryan (I’ll crack you if you come into my area) Costigan, Kevin (if you separate my first and last name, you actually get 2 backstreet boys) Littrell, Bob (if you can’t have a hangover if you are drunk, who brought the beer for me?) Poynter, and Michael Clark (I just need a good 35 minutes of playing time and I’ll be good. Wait, you want me to do what? Play goalie? But I’m afraid of the ball.)

SUBSTITUTE: Didn’t you read my notes above? There were no subs.

MATCH: Screaming Pelicans FC vs. Buckeye Silverbacks
DATE: March 7th, 2010 (Oscar day)
TIME: 11am ET
COMPETITION: ADASL regular season game.
VENUE: Silverbacks Soccer Park
ATTENDANCE: We had lots of fans in attendance today. We had parents, girlfriends and even an original Pelican, Mr. Brian Kirchdoerfer, who is taking a season off to grow some facial hair
WEATHER: 60 degrees and sunny