Saturday afternoon was a perfect day for soccer, not too cold, not too hot, not too wet, it was just right whether you were playing or watching. The two teams lined up on their respective halves of the field, the 7-1 #5 ranked Riverside Pirates from east of Portland in their traveling whites, and Coach Jess Beamans 12-0 #4 ranked Bruins in their home Blue.
The Bruins have dominated opponents all season long with ball control, possession and deadly accurate shooting. The Riverside Pirates came into the contest obviously equal in the same categories, however, they brought one more aspect that proved to be the difference maker, a physical game that dared referees to make calls. The game plan was to challenge and foul as much as you could, and take the fouls when they came. Although the calls were heavily weighted on the Bruins, it was the Pirates that consistently held, pushed and frustrated the Bruin team.
As in past games, teams knew they had to control Luke Beaman, but the Pirates played a different strategy than previous opponents that simply double-teamed Beaman. The Pirates chose only to double Beaman in their defensive third of the field, and just fouled, held or physically pushed him off the ball everywhere else on the field daring the referee to make the call.
But make no mistake about it, the underdog Pirates were not intimidated by the Bruins and came to win. Both teams matched talent for talent at every position with speed up front and strong defenders at the back, and ultimately the game broke down to a battle of wills, lucky breaks, and referee calls.
The Pirates would strike first, breaking down the Bruins defense with quick passes and a break away down the middle of the field that resulted in a quick low shot beating the Bruin keeper just 5:30 into the match. This emboldened the Pirates who then upped the physicality, taking risks with physical play again challenging the referee to call ALL the fouls or let them go and not stop the flow of the game.
However, fifteen minutes later, freshman mid-fielder Jake Beaman #2 would lift a 22 yard shot from outside the right corner of the penalty box. The ball floated over the out of position Pirate keeper and found the upper left corner of the goal, clearly stunning the Pirate defense and shifting momentum to the Bruins.
Both teams now knew they were in a game that neither was going to walk away from with a large goal deficit between teams. Each team would test the other with physical play, challenging the defense and taking shots, but the half would end a 1-1 tie.
The second half did not take long to pick up where the first half left off, perhaps slightly more intense as both teams now saw their post-season lives passing before their eyes. The Bruins however, came out determined, as they have shown throughout the season, to score first and early in the second half. They pushed the ball into the Pirate end of the field, trying to break the press in the middle and then the edges.
And then the Bruins put together a beautiful set of three passes right down the middle of the Pirate defense. Junior forward Jair Valdovinos broke away, and as a Pirate defender desperately lunged with a slide tackle to push the ball away from a streaking Valdovinos, Valdovinos struck, ripping a low hard shot out of the Pirate keepers reach blistering the left corner of the net and putting the Bruins up 2-1 just 11:00 minutes into the second half.
With almost 30:00 minutes left in the game, the gloves came off and an outright brawl for every possession ensued. The Pirates, who seemed out of sorts being behind this late in the game turned their physical game up a notch, and the referee seemed content to let it go. The Bruins held on and weathered the storm until an inadvertent handball is called with just 12:00 minutes left in the match. The handball, called because the ball struck the hand of the Bruin player, whose hands were down by his side, was determined to be an advantage to the Bruins by the referee, and a late penalty kick was awarded to the now desperate Pirates. This call is at the discretion of the referee, and usually, if the player does not deliberately reach to touch the ball with his hands it is a ‘play-on’ situation. But this referee decided that the handball was intentional, changing the outcome of the game as the Pirates converted the penalty kick, tying the game 2-2 with just minutes to go.
The handball call and subsequent penalty kick conversion would breathe life into an otherwise defeated Pirate team and send the game into overtime. The Pirates came out firing, and an outside shot that would go wide of the left side of the goal would be followed up by a Pirate forward and be put in the goal just 2:00 minutes into the overtime period.
The Pirates would repeat, and score again with almost the same situation putting the Pirates up 2-4. The Bruins would answer late as freshman forward Fabian Villa #21 hit a shot on a header from a loose ball in front of the Pirate goal making the score 3-4 with just minutes left. The two Pirate goals in the overtime period would prove to be too much for the Bruins to overcome, ending a great season.
Congratulations to Jess Beaman and his Bruin team advancing for their second consecutive season into late post-season play.
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