Bethesda Internationals

5 Jun. '04. The weather took a turn for the worse with steady rain the evening before and the day of the Semi-Finals, but the nice Soccer Plex fields - although soggy and slippery -- remained open for these important MD State Cup games. Inter contested its club sister/rival team, the talented Roadrunners, fairly well early on in the first half until about the 15 minute mark when a questionable foul was called on Nicky at about 40 yards out to right center. Martin of the RR's launched a strong DK shot over Rob into the left side top/back of the net. Several minutes later, a long ball was sent up field to Lester, who turned and fired in a hard shot over Rob high into the left side top/back of the net. With about 5 minutes left in the half, the RR's sent in a nicely placed CK in the goal mouth and Tre of the RR's collected the ball before Rob could grab it and sent a sharp angled shot past Rob low into the left corner of the net. In the second half, the RR's seemed to have played with less determination but their excellent defense continued to shut down Inter from scoring, although Inter did manage a couple of ineffective CK's. At about the 15 minute of the 2nd half, Chris of the RR's received a ball about 30+ yards to right center and sent a strong strike high over Rob into the left side top/ack of the net. Congratulations to the Roadrunners for a great win and earning a birth in the Finals!

29 May '04. In the first game against Albertson Academy '91 (NY), on a gorgeous, sunny day at the nice OBGC soccer fields in Olney, which were infested with hordes of 17-year brood X cicadas buzzing around, Inter controlled the tempo from the start, moving/playing the ball in Albertson's half of the field for most of the match. At about the 4 minute mark of the 1st half, Carsten passed a nice ball from near the goal line out to Skylar at about 22+ yards and slightly right of center, where Skylar collected the ball and slammed a hard, bending-to-left shot over the Gk's hands into the left side of the net. Then, at about the 12 minute mark, Mario sent a long ball from about 35+ yards out to the right into the goal mouth, where Carsten collected the ball and turned, dribbled 1 or 2 steps and then fired a nice strike into the net beyond the GK's reach. At about mid-way through the 2nd half, Efe crossed a nice ball from about 30 yards out to the right into the left side of the goal mouth, and Nicky passed over to the right to Nicholas about 6-7 yards out who touched in an easy goal as the GK was caught off guard challenging Nicky's possession. In the 2nd match against the Berks SC Arsenal (PA), Inter also controlled the tempo for most of the match. At about the 3 minute mark of the 1st half, Skylar was to the left of the goal at about the 12 yard line and made a nice pass back to Sam about 18 yards out to the left. Sam collected the ball, dribbled/juked past a Berk's defender and then launched a nice strike into the left side of the net beyond the GK's reach. Later in the 1st half at about the 20 minute mark, Carsten made a nice pass to Patrick about 22+ yards to the right of center, where Patrick collected the ball and fired a strong shot high into the back of the net; and, about 5 minutes later, Skylar crossed a nice ball to Mario near the goal mouth, who turned and flicked in the goal to the right of the GK. In the 2nd half, the Berks' defenders stepped up their defense and were quicker in closing in on Inter's attack and shut down Inter from scoring. 30 May '04. The weather turned cloudy for the 3rd match against RFC '91 the next day, but the match was a beauty. Both teams played superb soccer and the match was evenly played with both teams moving the ball up and down the field, attacking and counter-attacking from start to finish, resulting in a scoreless 1st half. In the 2nd half, at about the 12 minute mark, a RFC '91 player pentrated into Inter's goal mouth and was dribbling to the left side of the goal area when he was unfortunately dragged down by an Inter defender, resulting in a PK, which RFC '91 converted. Later in the 2nd half, at about the 25 mintue mark, Patrick was fouled by Jamie M. of RFC '91 at about 35 yards out to the right. Skylar launched the DK high across the goal mouth to the left side, where Carsten collected the ball and booted a crisp goal from about 5 yards out. The match was a well contested game between two excellent teams, ending a 1-1 tie. Both Inter and RFC '91 earned and identical 3-0-1 record, but Inter advanced as the Red Group winner with fewer points allowed (1) tie-breaker versus RFC '91 (3). Inter will face the 2nd Place team of the White Group, and RFC '91 will face the 1st Place team of the White Group in the Semi-Finals. Later in the afternoon, Inter faced the always pesky MCLN Thunder. Again, Inter controlled the tempo of the match pretty much from the start, although the Thunder did manage to penetrate Inter's defense and take a couple of missed shots on goal. At about the 15 minute mark of the 1st half, Nicholas crossed a ball to Sam on the left, and Sam worked his way in about 15 yards out and sent a nice ball into the net over the GK. In the 2nd half, at about the 20 minute mark, Nicholas made a nice cross to Nick in the center/right area of the goal mouth, who kicked in a nice strike; and, about 5 minutes later, Nick made a nice pass to Patrick around 22+ yards out, who then dribbled 1-2 steps before firing in a hard shot high over the GK into the back of the net. End of match, 3-0, Inter. 31 May '04. In the championship game, on a cloudy day with occasional drizzle, Inter again faced its rival, RFC '91, in a Battle Royale contest. As was the case in their round-robin match, this game was well contested with both teams moving the ball up and down the field, attacking and counter-attacking, resulting in a scoreless 1st half. At about the 4 minute mark of the 2nd half, RFC '91 cleared a long ball into Inter's goal mouth about 18 yards out. An Inter defender hesitated slightly in his charge towards the 50-50 ball, allowing the quicker RFC '91 player to collect the ball, elude the defender and fire in a very nice, strong shot over Rob's arms into the top/back of the net. RFC '91 quick defenders denied Inter from scoring for the remainder of the match, resulting in a RFC '91 victory, 1-0, over Inter. Congratulations to the very fine RFC '91 Champions for winning the tough Patriot division this year. It is always a pleasure for Inter to play this talented and skillful team, which unfortunately will be moving to the VCCL in the fall 2004 season.

23 May '04. After a disappointing loss to the BAYS yesterday, Inter needed to have its spirits high, stay focused and play error free, precise team soccer to win this final match of the season against MSC United and earn its first D1 championship. However, it was not meant to be. Early in the first 5-6 minutes, MSC United slammed a hard ball from the right side towards the net but Rob was able to lay out and deflect it away behind the touch line, giving MSC United a CK which was luckily unconverted. At about the 10 minute mark of the first half, Peabo of MSC United made a great run into Inter's right goal area, maneuvered in between Inter defenders to cross a nice ball into the goal mouth to his team mate Mark who knee-ed in a precision strike beyond Rob's reach. In the second half, Inter played MSC United evenly and moved the ball well, counter-attacking but couldn't set up any easy shots on goal due to MSC United's defenders swiftly closed in to stop/tackle the ball away or setup counter-attacks. All in all, Inter was able to move the ball into MSC United's half and shoot some shots on goal, although ineffective, and create a few CK's/DK's but all to no avail, as they were either wide or snatched up by their excellent GK, Eric. At about the mid-way point of the second half, William of MSC United maneuvered his way up through Inter's left side and fired in a shot towards the right side of the goal, and an Inter defender rushed over from the right of the net to kick/clear the ball away, but it unfortunately was shanked and spun back into the net to the right of a surprised Rob. Several minutes later the match ended, 2-0, MSC United. Congratulations to an excellent MSC United team for earning another D1 Championship -- should they win their last game next week against GRFL Renegades.

22 May '04. Plain and simple, Inter was not up for this match with the always tough BAYS, who came to play and earn this well deserved win over Inter today. Although it was quite hot and the field was poor with high, uncut grass, both teams were able to move the ball easily up and down the field. At about the 3 minute mark of the first half, after moving the ball to about 20 yards out to the right of Inter's defenders, a BAY player sent a good cross to the center of the goal mouth where an awaiting team mate, who was uncovered by an Inter defender, collected the ball and fired a nice shot over Rob into the net. About 3 minutes later, Inter made a counter attack up field and Nicky passed a nice ball from the BAYS' left side about 25 yards out to the right of the goal mouth to Sam who then dribbled past a defender and then fired in a high shot over the keeper to tie the match, 1-1. In the second half, the BAYS clearly showed their determination in wanting to win the match and kept attacking/counter-attacking but Inter's defense managed to keep the BAYS from shooting any real strong shots on goal, although several corner kicks were let up. Then, at about the 12 minute mark of the second half, there was a furious attack by the BAYS close inside of Inter's goal mouth and an Inter defender attempted to kick/clear a ball out but unfortunately mis-kicked an own goal past Rob into the net. Late in the match Pete sent Ben up to help shore up the offense, leaving Pablo and Philip in the back. With about 1 minute left in the match, the BAYS counter-attacked a run by Inter and sent a long ball up field and behind Pablo who could not close in on a swifter BAYS player who collected the ball and struck in the BAYS' 3rd goal past a diving Rob who came out to the right of the box to challenge the shot. Congratulations to the very talented BAYS for a well deserved win!

16 May '04. On a threatening T-storm late afternnon and on a poor clumpy field for good passing at Linway Terrace in McLean, Inter found their old D3/D2 friends/opponents to be up for the challenge of notching a W against Inter. But, Inter, too, was up for the challenge to maintain its lead in D1 amd its tight and stingy defense allowed very fews shots on goal throught the match. At about the 10 minute mark of the first half, Pablo crossed a nice, long ball from the right side of the Thunder's goal area over to Sam on the far left. Sam dribbled, juked a Thunder defender and fired in a strong arcing shot to the over the keepers outstretchd arms from about 20 yards out. At about 2 minutes into the second half, Nicholas launched a beautiful corner kick into the center of the goal mouth about 5 yards out, where Varun perfectly timed his leap up in the air and headed in a strong shot to the upper corner of the net over the Gk's head. Despite Inter pretty much controlling the math for the rest of the second half, missing on a number of shots on goals, credit the Thunder for hanging tough as they managed a couple of break aways beyond Inter's defenders but Ben was able to catch up and made a great tackle on the ball to take it away on one occasion, and another break away was stymied by other defenders who recovered in time to break up the run and tackle the ball away.