Last night #5 Yuengling squared off against #4 Stoppage Time, in a rematch of their regular season tilt won 3-1 by Stoppage Time. Yuengling had to put away their traditional green jerseys as we were the lower seed and Stoppage Time also wears green. It was pretty strange to see us all in white. I yelled "come on green!" a few times before catching on!

Yuengling dominated early, scoring an early goal and maintaining good ball possession and pressure. Lawrance chipped a beautiful set shot to the upper right hand corner for what should have been a 2-0 lead, but their goalie Arnett just barely tipped the ball off the post, probably the best save of the game. After the ensuing corner kick, Stoppage Time went on the offensive, culminating with a goal off of a corner kick of their own. Immediately the halftime whistle blew. 1-1 tie.

We came out of the gates ... flat ... and Stoppage Time dominated in all aspects. They had several good scoring opportunities but did not capitalize. Eventually the tide turned and things were more even. I started going over overtime and penalty kick scenarios in my head. Then, somehow, we forced a goal on a shot from a terribly narrow angle. With only a few minutes remaining, this lead should be enough to seal the deal.

The Stoppage Time offensive resumed! For the rest of regulation, there was nothing but offensive pressure from them. They got a free kick a few yards outside of the 18 yard goal box, and I screamed for a 4 man wall to guard the near post. I set myself up towards the far post. Incredibly, the shooter looped the ball around the wall and towards the near post! I got my hands on it but not enough, coughing up a rebound. I dove for the rebound. Rolling, with my hands on the ball again, an opposing player was winding up for a big kick. I pulled the ball to my chest and ended up rolling into him, and he crashed over top of me. Phew.

The referee signaled there was one minute remaining. Stoppage Time got another corner kick. The kicker blasted a low, knuckling shot towards me, and I barely got my hands on it and pushed it out. Unfortunately, right back to him! He took another low knuckling shot, and again I could not contain it. It bounced around the goal area. A Yuengling player cleared the ball to the sidelines, intercepted by the opposition again! But, they failed to settle the ball and it bounced out of bounds. And then we heard it -- that sweet, sweet sound of the game over whistle!

It took one playoff game for us to match our regular season win total! In typical Yuengling fashion, we will face the #1 seeded team in the 2nd round. As far as I remember, this is the exact script we follow almost every season. The only difference this year is that the #1 team is not our nemesis, the Lions but rather FC DTWC, a strong team but also the team we tied in the regular season finale. Our next game should be interesting. We have next week off, so you'll have to wait two weeks for the next one!