Bethesda Internationals

19 Sep. '04. A splendid day out at Muldoon's Farm found Inter battling the always tough and talented ASC Premier AC 91W. For most of the first half, it was a sparring match between ASC Premier/Inter, both moving the ball up and down the field. At about the 28 minute mark, ASC Premier created a scoring situation from the right side by sending the ball into the goal mouth where it was nicely struck to the left of and away from Nat into the back of the net. The first half was plagued with fouls by ASC (5) to (2) for Inter, and only 3 SOG's for ASC compared to 2 for Inter. But, ASC Premier AC stepped up its game in the second half with its quick/pressuring defense, and at about the 3 minute mark, ASC Premmier AC sent another nice ball from about the 25+ yards out to the right into the goal mouth and it was kick-flicked past Nat -- who had no chance to stop the shot -- into the back of the net. ASC clearly dominated the second half and played superb soccer, shooting 7 times on goal to Inter's 2 SOG's. At about the 26 minute of the 2nd half, ASC again sent a nice cross form about 30+ yards out from the right into the goal mouth and the ball was deftly headed into left side of the net past Nat -- again, Nat had no chance to stop the excellent play/goal. Congratulations to ASC Premier AC 91W for a great match and win today -- Inter has yet to prevail over this excellent team!

12 Sep. '04. On a beautiful afternoon on a great field at the MD Soccer Plex, Inter faced the always tough Baltimore BAYS 92 -- who had just come off of a 3-1 win over MATT Crew yesterday. It was a tight match with both teams playing equally well, moving the ball up and down the field. At about the 6 minute mark, a BAYS player sent a shot into the right goal mouth where an Inter player missed kicking the ball in an attempt to clear it out, and a nearby BAYS player struck an easy wide goal past Nat (filling in for Rob) who had no chance to stop the shot. Two minutes later, Skylar launched a DK from about 20+ yards out to the right and it landed into the BAYS' goal mouth where Mati kicked it towards the net and Nicholas was able to finish it past the GK into the net. In the first half, Inter made 0 CK's and 3 SOG's compared to the BAYS' 2 SOG's. In the 2nd half, Inter attempted 2 CK's and 4 SOG's while the BAYS took 1 CK and 5 SOG's. It was another match plagued with numerous fouls with 13 awarded to the BAYS 92 and 5 given to Inter.

11 Sep. '04. On a pleasant day but on a poor field with high, uncut grass and sloping field contour, Inter battled MSC United in its first game of the young fall 2004 season. And, indeed it was a battle, with Inter keeping pace and pretty much shut down MSC United's vaunted offensive scoring machine. The first half clearly belonged to MSC United, who managed 3 CK's and 6 SOG's to Inter's 4 SOG's only. There were more than 2 dozen fouls awarded MSC United, with 2 yellow cards to Jamie and Tobie and 1 red card sendt off 2 MSC United parents! At about the 23 minute mark, Chris W. served a nicely placed ball into the goal mouth from about 30 yards out, where Julio Jr. beat Rob to the ball and headed (glanced) it over Rob into the net from 15 yards, and landed on top of Rob with cleat into Rob's right leg afterwards. Rob lay on the ground in pain for several minutes and believed a foul should've been called but it was a good goal and the collision was unavoidable after the ball was headed by Julio and then landed on Rob afterwards. At halftime, Rob was still upset and simply left the huddle in frustration. Nat stepped in as GK in the second half -- never having played GK before, and did a brilliant job stopping several hard shots by MSC United. Inter played MSC United to a scoreless 2nd half, shooting 3 CK's and 1 SOG to MSC United's 4 CK's and 4 SOG's.

10 Sep. '04. Inter Bethesda has been accepted into the prestigious 2004 CASL Raleight Shootout in its first participation, to be held 13-14 Nov. in Raleigh, NC. Inter normally participates in the Beach FC Columbus Day tournament each year, but this year Inter decided to travel a little further to play some quality top teams from Region III.

5 Sep. '04. The weather and MD Soccer Plex fields were great, and so was the U12 Potomac Fusion (ex-BAYS 93) playing up in the U13 Premier bracket. In its first match of the tournament, Inter dominated the first half, but the spunky Fusion were quick and skillful, and played with fierce determination in the second half. After a scoreless first half and at about the 23rd minute of the second half, the Fusion pounded Inter's defense with several shots which were cleared out until a Fusion player deftly placed a left-footed shot high over Inter's defenders and Rob's outstretched arms into top left corner of the net. Inter could not finish an equalizer against the Fusion in the final couple of minutes. Congratulations to the talented Fusion, whom Inter will face in D1 play on 9/26. The second match found Inter without its coach as the Olney officials failed to honor Inter's request for no schedule conflicts with double-coached teams, and Pete coached the older U15 Cougars while Matt subbed Inter's game against the less formidable PA Blue Classics. However, Inter seemed to lose its focus and played ineffectively as a team. The PA Classics Blue 91 team (former FC Leeds Blue) found Inter vulernable to its style of play, and although the match was scoreless at half, the PA Classics managed to penetrate Inter's defense and knock in an uncleared ball at about the 19-20 minute mark. And then again with about 2-3 minutes left, the PA Classics team easily scored when a ball was sent up to a player who was clearly offsides by 2-3 yards but was not called by the parent (PA Classics Blue) volunteer linesman; thus, Inter lost 0-2 to the PA Classics Blue team. Congratulations to the PA Classics Blue team for their win over Inter. Hopefully, Inter may see the PA Classics Blue team again at the Bethesda Thanksgiving 2004 tournament!? In the 3rd match, and with Pete back at the helm, Inter faced the VA State champs, MATT Crew. Although no advancement to semi-finals would be awarded even with a win over the MATT Crew, Inter played very well as a team with crisp passing and movement of the ball. At about 2 minutes into the match, Nat was fouled in the box but Patrick's PK unluckily went wide left. Several minutess later Patrick 'Ebo' made a nice run up the middle and launched a shot directly at the very fine MATT Crew Keeper, who easily caught the ball. Then, at about the 15 minute mark, MATT Crew launched a strong attack and Varun cleared out a ball in the box but Sam instinctively lefted his foot high up and trapped the ball, hoping to dribble upfield and create an offesnive scoring opportunity -- but the ball was deflected outward to a MATT Crew player who alertly struck the ball left-footed high over everyone into the back of the net. Patrick 'Ebo' managed several shots on goal, but again the Crew's excellent Keeper was at the right spot each time and stopped all shots. Inter controlled the pace and flow of the game throughout the match, but unfortunately was not rewarded for its hard work with any goals being finished. Congratulations to the excellent MATT Crew, whom Inter will face in D1 play on 10/24. 06 Sep. '04. Congratulations to MSC United for its win over MATT Crew in the Premier Championship today, 2-1!