Bethesda Internationals

24 Jun. '04. On their way to the Regionals next week, the U13G/BETH Blast invited Inter for a friendly scrimmage and tune-up at the MD Soccer Plex. The weather was warm, less humid with bright and sunny skies. Both teams moved the ball up and down the field well, disallowing the other any real scoring threat and the 1st half remained scoreless. Likewise in the 2nd half, both teams moved the ball well back and forth, until a Blast player (12) penetrated Inter's left defense, juking some defenders and sent a nice crossed ball to a teammate in the goal mouth who launched a high arcing lob into the net for the 1st goal of the match late in the 2nd half. The ball was unreachable by Joe, who was a defender tryout candidate but volunteered to play GK since Rob was absent. Both teams decided to play another period, and early in the 3rd period, Sam received a pass and dribbled up to the right goal mouth area where a Blast player challenged and tackled the ball, and Sam hit the turf -- but quickly got up and scrambled to the ball and lifted a nice, hard shot far into the back of the right side of the net. Late in the 3rd, the Blast number 12 (Caroline) received a pass from her teammate and made a brilliant run through Inter's left defense and zig-zagged into the goal mouth, juking and freezing several defenders before strking a hard shot past Nat who volunteered to play GK since Rob was absent. End of scrimmage, 2-1, Blast. Good luck to the excellent Blast team in the Regionals next week!