From The Coach’s Corner

Last night, for the first time in March, we finally experienced some SPRING weather!  It was a windy, but warm, evening, which may have added to the energy and excitement of last night’s match.  Our Rams took on our cross-town rivals, the Bruton Panthers, and came out victorious, 2-1.  At the coin toss, our captains, Stephen Council, Zach Galli, and Nate Lowery, deducted that the wind would play a factor in the match and opted to let the Panthers have the ball while we chose the side that benefited from a 15mph gust from the east.  Their gamble paid off because we had 2 goals in the opening 10 minutes of the match.  In the 6^th minute, Cannon Newell crossed a ball to Lucas Elder who pushed the ball around the defender and blasted a ball into the back of the net.  The Rams continued the attack, when in the 10^th minute Nate Lowery noticed an opportunity for a quick strike on a free kick.  His shot was just a tad high and the ball ricocheted off the crossbar into the penalty box.  This ricochet was handled by a Bruton defender, which resulted in a penalty kick from the spot for the Rams.  Zach Galli, determined to increase the lead, drove the ball into the back of the net and increased our lead 2-0.  As the half continued, the Rams continued to pressure the Panthers but the opportunities seemed to wane.  Midway through the 1^st half, our Rams gave up a free kick from the Panthers, where our defense hesitated ever so slightly and allowed a ball to bounce into our third. While trailing back to defend the goal scoring opportunity, we fouled Bruton in the box and gave up a PK.  Joe Egbo, our able minded net-minder, just barely missed saving the shot, and our Rams lead was reduced by a goal.  At the half, we tried to make some adjustments to get our strikers more involved in the attack but the wind was a formidable adversary that thwarted many of our opportunities.  In fact, the offense for both teams was really non-existent and there were few chances to score for either team.  Overall, it was a great match and your Rams will go into the  break undefeated, 3-0-1! As an added bonus, our JV team also won, 2-0!  Our next match is on Thursday, April 13^th at Wanner stadium vs the Smithfield Packers.   We hope to see you there.  Have a great spring break and we look forward to seeing you when we return.