DEA Bedford Over 30

Boston Rovers upset top-seed DEA this afternoon with a 3-2 victory at Joppa Field. DEA were there own worst enemies, giving up an own-goal and two softies in an awful end to a successful season. DEA played a bit tentative to start, lacking ambition and content to just knock the ball around without any forays into the attacking third. As the play ebbed and flowed, Rovers finally broke through 25 minutes on with a bit of that ole' Irish luck. With a cross skipping into the box, it bounced high and handcuffed JD. His attempted clearance was instead dropped into DEA's net. Lucas Hill had no chance on the mis-direction and Rovers took the lead. After the goal, Rovers played a bit better and held possession better than they had in the early going. However, neither side really had any great chances and at halftime the scored stayed at 1-0. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Kurt Englehart lofted a little chip over the defenders and sent in Jerold White. Jerold calmly controlled the pass and beat Rovers' keeper Scott Giarla to level. DEA had spent a long time getting back to level, and with their play showing more pace they felt confident they would score again. Instead, Rovers found their pot 'o' gold at the end of the rainbow. First, a soft shot/pass from the low left side by Larry Gill lofted toward the goal. As it appeared to be intended as a pass, Lucas played where the ball looked to be going. Instead, it carried and settled into the far-side webbing to give Rovers the lead back. Minutes later, a scramble in front found a low shot skimming on the wet grass. Lucas coughed up the slippery shot and Mike Martins, the mouthy lug who was flapping his gums all game pushed home the rebound to make it 3-1. Now, DEA was in a deep hole. They felt to be the better squad, but the score had Rovers up by two and there was no denying that fact. The final 15 minutes was all DEA as they pressed to level. The pulled one back, again with Kurt providing an assist. This time, he sent in leading scorer Willie Mungere. Mungere reached out and chipped the onrushing keeper to make it 3-2. DEA continued to storm the cage. Jerold's shot whistled wide. Peter Cline had a shot blocked. Mike Friedin's dallied across the 18 and scorched one wide. The ball seemingly never left the Rovers' third, and with them screaming for the whistle it finally came, ending DEA's season with a disapointment. A nod on the tremendous effort has to go to Chris Florek and Chris Jones in the back. Flo, playing his first game since injuring an ankle in an indoor match, played solid and Jones didn't lose an one-on-one battle all game. Sometimes, you have games where you look back and say "we should've done this", or "we should've done that", but this was one of those games where DEA played the way they wanted to, got the chances they needed to, but could not come out with a "W". Credit to Rovers...they put three goals in on Lucas...who only allowed two PKs all year. They did what no other team could do, and therefore will be playing for the title next week. Post-season awards are due shortly. However, a great season for DEA and they look to have additional success next season in Division 1.

Divsion 2 North 'WINNAHS' DEA host Division 2 South Runners-Up Boston Rovers on Sunday at Joppa Hill International Airport at 9:00AM. The game has already generated a lot of press, and tickets were sold out within an hour after the gates opened. Many fans had been camped out since Monday morning when the seedings were announced. One should expect a raucous crowd for this match. Rovers come into the match hot as a pistol, winning five straight and having gained points in every match since starting their season at 0-2. They look to be a formidable opponent. Rovers are lead by Striker #9 Jay Rojee with four goals. Midfielder #15 Peter Connery patrols the play at both ends, and has pitched in with a pair goals and a couple of helpers, too. Defensively, #19 Mark Lyons is dangerous out of the back, scoring three goals on the campaign. The Rovers offense is spread out pretty evenly throughout the squad. As for the hot-tempered players, Rovers look to be well-behaved with only six yellow cards for the season, and no player receiving more than one. Looks like it could be an easy match to officiate for Pierluigi Colina, as the Italian is coming out of retirement for this match. DEA also comes into the match on cloud nine. Having been restored to Division One as a reward for their 8-1 season (one match was deemed unnecessary and will not be made up), DEA has gone 13-1-5 in their last two seasons in Division 2. Clearly, they have this mastered and look to ply their trade next season in Division 1. Offensively, DEA is led by rookie Willie Mungere with 7 goals. Mungere can score in bunches, and when he is on his pace is unmatched and the talent just flows. Mungere often teams up with Chris Laberge. Laberge is one of those special players who can play anywhere on the pitch, but his imposing presence up top allows him to be a dangerous player in the air. The midfield of DEA is well-stocked, with versatile players that can play a variety of positions. On most occasions, the midfield tandem of Elviz Zukovic and Jerold White act as field generals, controlling the pace of the match and providing the offensive punch when needed. On the back end, DEA can rotate a multitude of players in any position. With sweeper Chris Florek listed as questionable for Sunday, DEA looks to rely on Dale Dubois and Chris Jones to man the middle, with 3-4 quality outside backs to rotate through. However, it all comes down to keeper Lucas Hill. Lucas has only allowed two PKs all year, for an obnoxious .333 GAA and an even more disgusting 96+ Save Percentage. That's just gross. In fact, in 10 Division 2 games that Lucas has played, he has only given up an paltry four goals. At times, you need a keeper to come up big, and DEA brings the best in the business. So, there you have it. Check the link above to see what the opposing press has to say. In the meantime, look for the standard barrage of e-mails from Dale to ensure you advise of your participation on Sunday. Updated weather: The forecast now calls for some rain and a little wind on Sunday. The game may get through with only showers, but make no mistake it will be a raw one. Interesting to see how the "Airport" will hold up, but it's a fine pitch and should be OK.

DEA Soccer reached a historic milestone yesterday at Joppa Hill Field. It is the first time that two DEA teams clinched Division Championships on the same day. First up was the DEA over 30 team Clinching their division with a surprisingly hard fought battle with FC Barley, 2-0. Next, was the DEA Masters team clinching their 3rd straight divisional championship with a 3-0 win over Tewksbury that ended prematurely with some head butting and minor blood shed. So both DEA team will advance to the Semifinals against their southern division counterparts this coming Sunday at the Joppa Hill International Airfield. In the first match DEA would take on Barley. DEA was confident in this match as they clearly dominated Barley in their first meeting earlier this season. The over confidence showed as DEA would hold the ball looking for the perfect shot for much of the first half. The Barley keeper was forced to make save after save to keep this game scoreless. Barley, facing relegation this season unless they could beat DEA, like 20-0, played with some real heart and forced DEA to play more defense than they had planned. However, the DEA defense has been rock solid all season and this game would be no different. Chris Jones, led the defense at sweeper with Dale in front of him and Jon Cloutier and JD on the flanks. The chance of scoring a goal for Barley was also greatly decreased as DEA would have Lucas Hill in net. With this win, Lucas would register his 4th shutout of the season. More amazingly, Hill has not been scored upon in regular play and only twice overall on PK's. DEA as a team has only let up 9 goals all season. Anyway, back to the game. DEA would finally get on the board in the 25th minute as Elvis would find Jerold open in front of the net. Jerold would turn the ball and beat the keeper for DEA's only goal of the first half. DEA would have some good chances, Mike Fiedan would ring the bar, and Willy would blast one off the keeper, but the score would remain 1-0 into the break. The second half saw much of the same, except Barley got a few more chances that were stifled by Lucas. Barley tried very hard to equalize and sparked some urgency in DEA to net the insurance tally. DEA would have its chances, Elvis and Cliney both had good bids and so did an overlapping Jon Cloutier, but the Barley keeper was very good and would not let one past. It would finally come midway through the second half when Jerold would find Willy Mungere open up top. Willy would beat a defender and dribble across the goal mouth. He would then flick the ball away from the diving keeper leaving the goal vacated for the easy tap in. With the two goal cushion, the game was over. DEA knocked the ball around for the remaining minutes and would capture the D2N Championship. Hats off to the classy Barley team, who really came to play and gave DEA a match. With this win, DEA will be moving back up into Division 1 for the 2007 Spring Season. The third half was organized. Flo, who is nursing an ankle injury, had the grill going prior to the final whistle. The hotdogs and yummy croissant sandwiches were on hand and even some bacon triangle bread thingies. Oh yeah, and the magic cooler. A seach party was organized to try an locate Chris Laberge, who uncharacteristally did not show up for the game and lost out on his bid for the Cal Ripken award. The DEA Masters were up for the entertainment of the 3rd half. They would take on Tewksbury in their bid for the D5N Division Championship. A good time was had by all. DEA has home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs that are this Sunday at 9:00 AM at Joppa Hill Field. DEA will take on the runner up of the southern division, The Boston Rovers. This should be a good matchup between two similar quality teams. This game will be followed by the DEA Masters semifinal game with Irish Village at 11:00 AM.

Remember: -53% of all goals come from moves that start in the attacking third of the field. Remember: 1. 72% of all goals are from one touch. 2. 22% of all goals are from the area of the far post. 3. 22% of all goals are from headers. 4. 17% of all goals are from volleys. 5. 16% of all goals are from outside the penalty area. 6. 0% of all goals come from me.

Nine players showed for a home game against third-place Ipswich. That's right...NINE. Three players commited to being "IN", and failed to show. Ipswich, who hadn't travelled well all year, showed with three subs as they attempted to climb into the playoff chase. By the time the whistle blew, DEA had secured maybe their biggest victory in their long history of the OTHSL, while Ipswich had a long, frustrating ride home. Playing down a couple of players, DEA defended nicely in a zone and let Willie Mungere run wild up top. They were industrious with their attempts at goal, and compacted well in their own third. Elvis Zukovic had the first great chance fifteen minutes in. After receiving Willie's pass, Elvis' slicing run left a defender on his back and only the goalie to beat. He slipped his shot just wide, and DEA was worried that might have been their best chance. Back at the other end, a cross sent Ipswich in clear on the ride side. However, DEA keeper Chris Cloutier timed his charge well, and forced a shot that was saved and cleared away. When playing down players, you need to take advantage of the chances when they come, but you also need some luck and good goaltending. The luck came five minutes later, first when an Ipswich shot bounded off the crossbar, and then a few minutes later when a ripper from 20 yards hit the frame and went wide. Mungere then took an eerily similar shot at the other end, and it had the same result: post...but no netting. DEA had to be content to let Ipswich build-up, but the midfield trio of Chris Laberge, Jerrold White, and Elvis played tremendously. Jerrold in particular had an outstanding game, playing from corner to corner and end to end. Defensively, Cloutier was only called on to make a couple of saves due to the brick-wall backfield of Dale Dubois, Chris Florek, Chris Jones and Peter Cline. At halftime, DEA realized they didn't need to look at the parking lot any longer. Reinforcements were not going to arrive. Second half saw Ipswich start to play with a bit more urgency. Their efforts paid off when a PK was called against DEA. The call could have gone either way, but DEA wasn't getting any favors and certainly needed one there. Ipswiched finished and DEA was now down. Five minutes later, Ipswich made it 2-0 on a clear chance that Cloutier got a lot of, but not enough. Down by two goals and two players, this reporter began to pen the game report. It wasn't going to be pretty. Here's where DEA began to impart their will. Ipswich, who had not pressured DEA in the backfield all day, continued to lay off and let DEA dictate the pace. More and more, the pressure was at the far end of the airstrip. They finally broke through, and it was Elvis who took over the game. First, his restart from 20 yards out was nicely placed into the low far-side corner to bring it back to 2-1. At this point, DEA began to play even more confidently and Ipswich really laid off with the pressure. When Elvis skated from the corner, he found sweeper Florek charging through the middle unmarked. Flo took the pass and tossed it into the scrum. After the ball bounded around a bit, it found Cliney's feet...six yards out. His finish wasn't pretty, more of a shovel than a shot, but it was huge as DEA had levelled. Still with 20 minutes left, all thoughts of a draw were gone. At one time content to play level, DEA smelled blood. Elvis scorched home the winner with a screaming drive that everyone knew was in as soon as it left his foot. High and hard, it dipped after passing the keeper and DEA was now in the lead. Just like that, this game reporter ripped up and threw away his original report that was so scathing against the unattending, and instead concentrated on the efforts of those who were. Ipswich tried to get back into it, but DEA continued the lock down in their third. Cloutier had to make one save, but really this was all the backfield. First, Jonesie was eating his man alive on the right. Flo and Dale in the middle won ever ball. Cliney and Laberge on the left teamed to play a full containment. Nothing terribly threatening came, and that's how it ended. An incredibly smart game played by "THE NINE". DEA played to their numbers and strengths all game, and came home with the well-earned victory. They clinched at least a playoff spot with the win. Man of the Match has to go to Elvis with the two goals. However, there was an eight-way tie for second as everyone who laced their boots deserved a nod today. Third half was an easy one, as Ipswich didn't really want to hang after the tough loss. That's a long ride home after dropping a two-goal lead against a short-handed team. Give Ipswich some credit, as they played DEA close in both games this year, but this one has to hurt. DEA goes to Windham next week in a battle of heavyweights. Currently ahead by four points, DEA clinch first with at least a tie next week or a victory the following week. Best to get it out of the way early, however, as Windham has handed DEA their only blemish on the year. They are looking for some payback.