Bethesda Internationals

20-21 Mar. '04. In the first match of the Elite division on a fiercely windy day, Inter faced its rival and opponent of last year's JC Premier division Championship game (which Inter prevailed, 2-1), REST FC '91. Both teams were evenly matched and moved the ball well up and down the field in the first half, with both defenses pressuring the other and executed swift counter-attacks. At about the mid point of the first half, a strong shot was launched by a REST FC '91 player from about 20 yards out which Rob caught but then dropped behind the goal line, creating a corner kick for REST FC '91 which was well executed - with the wind - that Inter did not defend well to clear out, resulting in a fine header goal by a REST FC '91 player and a 1-0 lead at the half. In the second half, REST FC '91 kept attacking on Inter's side and a ball sent to the middle towards the net was ineffectively cleared by Inter to a REST FC '91 player who found a seam and fired in the second goal beyond Rob's outstretched arms, giving REST FC '91 the victory, 2-0. In the second match against an excellent Norcross Fury Gold team, Inter found itself quickly down, 0-4, in the first half due to several defensive miscues, and simply because the Furty Gold's bigger and speedier forwards were able to elude Inter's defenders and score quite easily. Inter tightened up its defnese in the second half, not allowing the Fury Gold to score, but the Fury Gold's defense also shut down Inter's ability to get off any good shots on goal througout the entire match. The third match on Sun., 21 Mar., was between Inter (3rd Place Group 4) against Beadling SC (3rd Place Group 3). The wind conditions were still very strong and the two teams were pretty evenly matched. The officiating was atrociously awful and inconsistent equally against both opponents. Late in the first half, Beadling SC managed the first score off of a nice high shot over Rob's outstretched hands from about 20 yards out to center. Late in the second half, Inter was able to score off a nice strike by Sam from the left side of the goal mouth past the keeper which guest player Blake tapped in across the goal line to make sure it went all the way across the goal line into the net.