Wolves 02 ECNL Sanford Match Reports

The 02 Wolves Ecnl Team played 3 very difficult matches.  They finished the weekend with 1 draw (Penn Fusion) and 2 defeats.  Both defeats came late as both teams in each match were pushing to-get the victory and our boys just fell a little short.

On day 1 we played a terrific Penn Fusion Group.  Penn carried more of the play but only was able to generate a few scoring chances one which resulted In a goal as a hard tackle  in the box ended up going right into the far side of the goal giving Penn Fusion a 1-0 goal.   The boys were dangerous on the counter resulting in several half chances and several free kicks that generated some of the best chances of the match.  With about 10 minutes to go Blair Mayes drew a penalty with a great diagonal run in the box.  Calvin Kalemaj finished the job and tied the game at 1, as the final whistle blew a short time later.

Day 3 in Sanford proved difficult.  As The NTH NASA Group has a few great attacking players and the rest of the group was solid and organized.  The Wolves held possession and generated multiple scoring chances before a corner kick resulted in a goal for Jamie Palms giving the wolves a 1-0 lead 25 minutes into the match.  NASA answered a few minutes later after they were able to find a very goodwide player 1v1 where he made a guy miss and sent a ball back diagonally to a group of players.  A blocked shot and a tackle spilled to their center forward and he capitalized after some last efforts from the Wolves backline.  Heading into the Break the Wolves felt confident about their performance and felt they would eventually regain the lead.  However, fatigue and 80 degree temperatures played a roll as the game evened and ultimately saw NASA find the eventual game winner late in the game.  Even so the boys displayed great poise and made good strides playing top competition across the Ecnl landscape.  In 2 weeks the boys get another chance to take the field as Kalamazoo Kingdom come to Schoolcraft for some friendlies.