Coming up just short
Steve
Emmick
Contributing Writer
After defeating the fifth-ranked Pima Cougars in the junior college
boys’ soccer season opener, the Mesa Thunderbirds –
in an attempt to carry over a winning record from last season –
lost what turned out to be a bloody street game 2-1 to the Chandler/Gilbert
Coyotes last Wednesday at home.
Fueled by a proud win a week before, head coach Ken Parsons tucked
away his ego and pulled out modesty saying, “I feel good about
tonight’s game. Our win against Pima last week has given us
an enormous amount of confidence, but we won’t let that overwhelm
us; we just go out there and play the game with our hearts, win
or lose.”
The 7 p.m. game started with obvious anticipation on both ends of
the field. The Coyotes were the first to score, with a goal in the
first 10 minutes of the game. Mesa’s excellent “give
and go” passing, unfortunately, could not make up for the
lack of shots on-goal in the first half. However, the dazzling footwork
by the defense more than compensated for their negative score.
The score remained the same throughout the first half. With multiple
shots on-goal by the Coyotes and the Thunderbirds’ unstoppable
defense, it seemed that the 1-0 lead was the only thing keeping
these two teams from an equal footing.
With less than 13 minutes left in the original 45, a Thunderbird
player sustained an injury, which led to an indirect penalty kick
that sailed wide right. Mesa’s offense began picking up the
pace late in the first half but with no success of a waving net.
With a near equal distribution of yellow cards from aggressive penalties
and three injuries – two of which resulted in players having
to sit out – the first half came to an end with the Coyotes
up by one.
The second half began with two rested teams ready to battle it out
for another 45 minutes. Mesa players took the offensive, spending
most of their time on the opposite side of the field, firing ball
after ball at the well-trained keeper from Chandler. Mesa looked
a lot more destructive in the second half, but gave the ball up
with less than 11 minutes remaining, allowing Chandler to launch
a sky ball over the keeper’s head, making the score 2-0.
With only minutes remaining in the game and the subtle yet present
feeling of a loss bearing down, a sense of restlessness came over
both the Mesa fans and the players. However, the Birds were not
yet ready to fly south. With a little more than two minutes left
in the game, Mesa’s tolerance for being scoreless came to
an abrupt end when a short pass inside the box led to a slide-by
goal by Mesa’s brutal offense.
However, the extreme buoyancy and confidence derived from the goal
came too late in the game for a comeback as the men in black from
Chandler stood strong on both offense and defense for the remainder
of the game, solidifying a win.
Mesa lost, but only by one point, which will only ensure an even
better game once these two teams meet again.
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