As the rain dampened the field and the soccer ball, Team Acqua Aveda found itself out numbered on the pitch and on the scoreboard Thursday night. Playing without their number one draft pick, Stephen Adair, captain Eric Pullen and speed man Ray Gardner, the five-man crew just could not find the net enough times against the full roster of Team Moss Builders.
To start the game, high scorer for Aqua Aveda, Rico Beissert, immediately lit up the scoreboard with a direct kick from mid-field in and out of the wet hands of goalkeeper Jordan Demers. With the score 1-0, Steve Oelfke protected the goal on the other end of the field ready for immediate retaliation.
Moss Builders’ Andre Lewis took the ball downfield in a hurry, out-maneuvering the defense. Lewis’ shot was blocked by Beissert preventing the score. For nine minutes of play in the drizzle, Ryan Moss’ team kept the soccer play on Acqua Aveda’s end of the field before finally scoring with a header by Moss to tie the ballgame 1-1.
Trying for a repeat, Beissert rocketed the shot half the length of the field right to Demers who chose to bat down the wet soccer ball instead of catching it. After the Demers boot, Olaf Krause scored the second goal for Moss Builders after eluding father-daughter defenders Darrin and Cortni Wash.
Saves by Oelfke and Demers, along with a shot by Moss, finally led to the third Moss Builders’ goal by Shay Coleman with eight minutes on the clock for the first half of play.
At the 17th minute of play, Beissert nailed another shot at the goal only to be stopped by Demers. On the other end of the field, Jillian Ptak saw her first scoring opportunity with a pass by Coleman. Ptak’s shot went just wide.
Acqua Aveda’s Drew Mitchell took his first shot after arriving late to the game. The Demers save gave Moss Builders another change on offense allowing Ptak, in the “cherry picking” position, her first goal of the game.
With only 10 seconds left on the board, Krause crushed another goal ending half with the score 5-1.
Taking the field with a four-point lead, Moss Builders started on offense. Both teams struggled to put anything together with tough defensive play on each end of the field. Coleman finally got a shot off that went wide of the right post.
Oelfke, playing on the field, was the recipient of a perfect pass from Beissert allowing movement down the field before passing it back to his teammate for the third goal for Acqua Aveda, keeping the team in the game.
In the 31st minute, Moss saved the ball from going out of bounds at the corner at the Acqua Aveda end of the field. After dribbling out a few yards, Moss found Ptak in front of the goal for another light touch into the goal.
Ptak found herself in scoring position two minutes later, but her shot went just wide. Moss Builders’ Matt Plummer found his shot late in the game with a rocket against Oelfke. Again in the goal, Oelfke made another amazing save.
Ed Moss, father of the Moss Builder team captain, took his turn at shooting. His hard shot was stopped by Oelfke to maintain the score at 6-3.
Setting up the perfect scoring opportunity, Beissert made a beautiful long cross-field pass to Mitchell. Mitchell settled the ball and made a pass back across the field without a teammate nearby.
Using all of their energy with no substitute players on the bench, Acqua Aveda struggled to keep possession, but they never stopped fighting and striking. Out of the goal once again, Oelfke sailed the ball over the post in a scoring attempt.
With the fourth Acqua Aveda goal on the scoreboard, Lewis answered back with a goal of his own to advance the score to 7-4.
Injured D. Wash put himself in the goal for the last few minutes of the game, putting Oelfke in scoring mode on the field. Despite Acqua Aveda’s efforts, they could not hit the net again and struggled on defense.
The 40th minute of the game gave Plummer a shooting opportunity against D. Wash. Plummer’s strike hit the target, giving Moss Builders a four-goal lead.
Coleman put the soccer ball at the right post past the goalie for the ninth goal of the night for his team.
Team Moss Builders continued to move the ball in the last seconds of the game with C. Wash in the goal for Team Acqua Aveda to end the game as her dad dribbled the ball down the field to take the last shot of the game.
Moss Builders’ win was their first of the season heading into the mid-point mark on the schedule. Undefeated Slim’s Place won the second game of the night by forfeit by Team Jiffy Lube due to a lack of players.
Finding their first win of the season, Team Ross Built Construction defeated Team Mar/Kis Insurance with five goals by Kevin Roman, as well as goals by Jake Parsons, Greg Ross and Scott Eason. Mar/Kis’ single goal was scored by Jeremias Gramajo.
The battle of the week was between Mulock Flynn Law and Sato Real Estate. With a strong comeback, Sato Real Estate overcame the early four-point lead by Mulock Flynn with the dominating play by seventh round pick and newcomer Chris Scott. Scott ended the game with six goals with an additional score by Lexi Sato.
The team scoring by team captain Josh Sato, Nate Welch, Adam Mott, Zoran Kolega, and Angela Albrecht tied the game for Sato Real Estate giving them a season record of 1-1-1.
With four games remaining in the regular season, the top spot in the adult co-ed soccer league is still up for grabs. Everyone makes the playoffs. Any team could be named the season champions.
