Fox Hollow Brigade 4 - 2 FC Berlin

Late this morning, Fox Hollow Brigade traveled to Salt Lake City to play FC Berlin, a club that was founded over fifty years ago. Last season, we played FC Berlin twice. In the first match, which was played in Provo, we defeated them 4 - 0. When we met them again, this time in Salt Lake City, we had only one substitute on the sideline and FC Berlin made us pay for our poor attendance. We made the long drive home having lost 0 - 3. After results like that, there was no doubt today's game would be intense.

FC Berlin scored the game's first goal, spoiling our plan to take control of the contest early. But their lead was short-lived. Mike Emmett quickly evened the score with a beautifully placed strike and, because we were creating more scoring opportunities than our opponent, we felt we had retaken control of the match. FC Berlin's second goal was a wake-up call for our entire team. FHB has conceeded two goals in each of it's games. Nearly every one has resulted from a brief lapse in defensive focus, for example, a blown assignment, a poorly controlled ball or the interception of a lazy pass. Fortunately, Sean Hetherington, our powerful striker, deflected a ball into the net for our second goal. We entered the break even at 2 - 2. We'd controlled the ball and taken far more shots than the other side, but they'd made the most of our mistakes.

At halftime, Coach Artigas, who'd made adjustments throughout the first half, made further changes to our tactics and formation. Much like last week, he sent us on to the field with the prediction that we would win 5 - 2.

Chris Wade broke the tie, finding the back of the net and infusing the team with confidence. Thereafter, the match, which was already intense, became more physical. FC Berlin's frustration was apparent, no more so than when one of their backs lowered his shoulder and delivered a rib-cracking blow to Tyler Capson, one of our speedy midfielders, who was blazing through their penalty area. That cheap shot should have earned the FC Berlin player a red card and an ejection. The referee merely awarded a penalty kick. That proved to be more than enough to seal the game for FHB. Alex Zamora, our Captain, calmly buried his shot in the bottom, right-hand corner. (Earlier, Ryan Taggart scored a goal that was disallowed. Ryan was clearly onside. Our coach was correct, we did go on to win 5 - 2.)

Once again, our offense proved to be extremely potent. But this week, I think our defensive team deserves to be acknowledged. During the first half, I believe FC Berlin took fewer than five shots. But the truly impressive work was done in the second half: our back line (anchored by center backs Kris Klingensmith and Aaron Tucker) did not allow a single shot on goal. Of course, a dominating performance like that begins with pressure applied by our forwards and midfielders. Every one of them did a superb job. In particular, Tyler Capson (from his midfield position) and Ryan Taggart (from the top of our formation) were outstanding. Both men are exceptionally fast. When Tyler and Ryan set their minds on running down a player, the outcome is virtually certain. Sean Hetherington also tracked all the way back from his forward position to break up a developing threat near our goal.

No report regarding this game would be complete without mentioning Aaron Morgan and Ben Wheeler. Neither of our regular keepers were available for this game. Aaron and Ben stepped into the breach (Aaron played the first half and Ben the second). Both are wonderful field players and we all know they would rather play there, but when called upon to help out between the pipes, they really step up.

With the win, FHB moves to 3 - 0.