Bethesda Internationals

1 Apr. '09.  Out at the MD Soccer Plex for an evening match under the lights on the nice, new artificial turf field, the Internationals played its cross-town rival/friends and State Cup nemesis, Freestate Elite.  In last year's Region I contest, Inter edged Freestate, 1-0, while Freestate returned the favor in the MD State Cup Final, 1-0. Freestate kicked off in the 1^st half, but Inter countered inthe 1^st min. with Vitalis receiving a ball upfield on the left and dribbled down to the corner to send a wicked blast across the goal mouth which passed through the other side as no Inter players close by.  A few mins. later  at the 5 min. mark after a foul by Freestate, Skylar sent a free kick from about 40 yds. on the right into the box where Ebo’s header went just wide right. At about the 9 min. mark, a ball sent upfield in Freestate’s half near40 yds. right was stepped on by a defender and not controlled soundly.  Chris raced in to possess the ball, dribbled in 1v1 on the GK for an easy shot to put Inter up 1-0.  Freestate took a couple of shots from around 20 yds. left and 25 yds. right but both sailed wide of goal.  Freestate committed 6 fouls including a YC shown to #3/Eli for a hard foul on Chris and a YC shown to #8/Fabio  for a hard foul on Skylar.  Inter committed just 2 fouls.  At about the 31 min. mark, after a foul by Freestate, Patrick served a nice free kick from about 35 yds. on the right into the box where Chris timed his leap up to head strike in shot into the net to put Inter up 1-0.  A Red card was shown to Travis for USB/comment to official at the 36 min. mark.  Despite down a man, Freestate played very intensely, pressuring/challenging the ball on every play for the remainder of the match.   At about the 38 min. mark, Freestate served a high arcing ball into Inter’s box which appeared to be going out of bounds over the far post end line, but as Skylar was running backwards to defend the ball, his left shoulder slightly bumped a Freestate player/Julian who fell down in the box and a PK was awarded, which #8/Fabio finished, and the half ended a few mins. later, 2-1, Inter.  

In the 2^nd half, Freestate continued its intense pressure defensively and moved the ball around well.  Freestate managed to break through the back line on several occasions to take some dangerous shots including one which struck the left post and bounced  out harmlessly away.  Another shot went high over the cross-bar, and Seth caught 3 other shots and grabbed a low shot on the turf.  Freestate would take 6 shots on goal and 1 corner kick but all were unsuccessful while committing 4 fouls (including 1 offsides).   Atabout the 14 min. mark, Erik sent a nice pass in the middle to Chris whose shot went wide left.  One min. later,Skylar sent a nice pass on the right to Erik just inside 18 yds. whose shot also went wide right.  At about the17 min. mark, Skylar crossed a ball from the right near 30 yds. into the middle to Ebo whose blast on goal was caught by the GK/Kyle.  One min. later, Skylar received a pass on the right near 18yds., dribbled into the box and sent a strike on goal which the GK caught.  At about the 35 min. mark, Skylar served a corner kick into the box where it was cleared out to around 18 yds.and Ebo’s header on goal was also caught by the GK.  Inter committed 6 fouls (including 1 offsides), and the match ended, 2-1, Inter.