Storm Warning
By Jim Bowman, Gabriola Sounder
Monday, October 6 2008
Gabriola’s U11 boys’ soccer team, the Storm Cats, played the Stingers from Oceanside on Saturday, September 27th.
The local boys took a while to get untracked and the first half belonged mostly to the visiting Stingers. A hand ball in the penalty area gave them the lead on a penalty kick and then a second strike late in the half left the Storm Cats down by two at the break. First half keeper David Cosbey made several saves to keep it close.
Coach David Reid must have pushed the right buttons during the rest, as the guys came out strong to start the second half. Sky Lavilla-Healy hustled hard to win the ball in the opponents’ corner and his pass out to Connor Reid gave them their first good scoring chance. Connor’s shot passed the keeper but sailed a bit wide of the goal post. A short while later Sky took the ball from deep in his own zone and carried it all the way to goal, only to miss just wide again.
Oceanside stung Gabriola with a third goal on the counter attack. Things looked bleak for the Cats, but they continued their attacking ways. Dominating with the ball now, Sky won another chance after collecting a throw in by Jeremy Megyesi. He just missed again, left goal post this time. Then he hit the cross bar. After second half keeper Daniel Clarke made a save and followed with a booming punt down the field, Sky completed the cycle of frustrating near goals. He blasted a hard shot right at the keeper. The save was made but momentum almost carried the ball over the plane of the goal line. Still 0-3.
They would not be denied. Relentless attacking won a corner kick. Jeremy sent the ball in for another close chance but in a goal mouth scramble it wound up rolling out of bounds for a Stingers goal kick. The Storm Cats intercepted that kick and got the ball back to Jeremy. A strong shot off his left foot finally gave the local boys a reward for their efforts. Moments later Jeremy scored again. There was time enough left to gain a draw. However, the Stingers answered quickly with their fourth tally on the counter attack.
The Storm Cats ignored that blow to their come back attempt. They pushed forward again right from the kick off. Connor Reid struck for the third Cats goal with a booming long shot from well out that the Stingers keeper could not contain. Only the clock prevented a better result for the local squad as they were on the attack again when the final whistle blew. The one goal loss could well have been a two or three goal victory, but the Stingers played well enough to hang on for the win.
The heads of some of the younger boys on the Storm Cats reached the chest of some of the Stingers players, but the team forged a strong message for visiting teams. “Better be prepared to play hard from kick off to final whistle.”
The Storm Cats next visit the big island on October 4th, while the Tree Huggers play at home.
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