game 3: 4-0 vs. The Scorpoins

Cesar suffering from a case of boredom in the goal! :-)

Antonio taking his turn as goalie, and looking almost as excited as Cesar!

All 7 Jedi Knights on the field in one picture! From left: Tyler, Sean, Sami, Alex, Daniel, Antonio, Cesar. Do you think we need to work on spreading out? :-)

Tyler, celebrating one of his two goals today!

Adrian in the net...looking almost as thrilled as Antonio and Cesar!

Antonio on the move, with support from Jack and Alex.

Sami give a thumbs up after Sean scored our first goal.

Jack clears the ball, while Antonio, Sean, Daniel, Cesar and Sami look on.
Did someone say spread out!?

Jack and Adrian sitting out 3rd quarter...

Cesar, Adrian, and Daniel chasing down another ball, with Sami just behind.

Daniel, Sean, Tyler and Jack hanging out after the game.

Cesar on his feet! :-)

Daniel turning the ball from an oncoming opponent.

Look at that form! Go Antonio!! (with Alex supporting behind...)

Tyler moving in for a tackle.

Jack on the move, with support from Adrian and Sami.

Tyler showing his perfect throw-in form.

Sean and dad, Tom.

The Jedi Knights ran into the Scorpions today, and for the first half of the game at least, played very well. The boys were passing, moving together, and playing tenacious defense. And they scored all 4 goals in the first half.

Sean started us off--he really looked great in the striker slot, creating chance after chance, and he finally got one in. Tyler scored the next two, the second one a looping shot from quite a ways back--it was fun to see him challenging their goalie throughout the game. And finally, Alex snuck one in from his position in back. We know it was hard for him to play defender today, but he did a fine job, especially in the sweeper position.

Speaking of sweeper, Antonio started out there and held down the fort as usual. He does such a good job staying in position, and remains calm and tough to beat back there. Daniel also did an excellent job on defense today, particularly in the first half when he was almost unstoppable on the right side. He sent a couple of booming clears way up the line. Adrian worked really hard, as always. I think he and Cesar cover more ground during the games than anyone else--Adrian is a tough tackler, and did an outstanding job hustling to help on defense. And Cesar likes to push forward from the back--he seems to have a natural tendency to want to play up front. I bet he'll put one in the net before too long.

Jack, who was actually an attacker for today's game, once again stood out with his strong defensive skills. He does a nice job not only tackling, but actually winning the ball and getting off good passes to his teammates. And Sami was a real workhorse again today--he never gives up, and is always focused on the goal.

Adrian, Daniel, Cesar and Antonio were all a little bored in goal (as evidenced in the photos above)--the Scorpions didn't take a single shot, which says a lot for how the boys played today! Things got a little wild and silly in the 2nd half--they need to stay better focused for all 4 quarters, and we'll start to work on that. We'll also work on trying to stay a little more spread out--we are awfully bunched up out there.

I am proud of the way they played today and how hard they work in games and in practice. Way to go, Jedi Knights!

Thanks go to Maria and Randy for bringing the snacks, to Sylvia for sending more terrific photos, and to Tim for the excellent job as ref.

Next practice: Thursday, 9/22 at 6pm with John (Cindy can't make it)
Next game: Saturday, 9/24 at 12noon, Team A vs. Team B10