First Team
It was a tale of two halves in the Kickers first team matchup against Polonia NY who went into the match tied for second place in the division. Both teams found bouts of possession throughout the game but it was Polonia who would strike first when a piercing through ball made its way to a midfielder streaking into the box, who calmly slotted it home to put the visitors up 1-0. The Kickers gave up an unfortunate goal just a few minutes later when a clearance gone wrong found the foot of a Polonia player who had a wide open net from 10 yards out.
In the second half, the Kickers continued to create dangerous chances on goal—including a header and a second-chance shot that were both cleared off the line by the Polonia defense. The Kickers would finally get a goal when a Bryan Baracaldo cross found the head of Brian Morris, only to give up an open header on the back post corner just a short while later to keep the Polonia ahead by two goals. Later in the half, Bartek laced a cross/shot across the goal line which was redirected off the foot of Lucas Shanks, then off a Polonia defender and into the net to bring the game back to 3-2. Countless free kicks and corners into the box never fell onto the right foot or made their way toward the Polonia goal, and the Kickers came up short despite outplaying their opponents, continuing the trend of the 2018 Fall season. Final score 3-2.
Reserves
The Kickers reserves earned a forfeit victory when Polonia only fielded 8 players and the game went 6-0 to the Kickers before halftime.
Over-30 Premier
When three players (Alex Petrovic, Anton Camaj and Nick Bill) pulled out last minute, the Over-30 Premier team played with 10 men to start. Despite dominating, the Kickers were unable to convert and the score was all even at halftime. The defense, lead by Toric and new comer Abi Bedel, moved the ball well out of the defense and kept the opposition off balance. Just before half-time, Seamus Kelly went down with a leg injury, leaving the Kickers with essentially nine men for the remainder of the game.
At the start of the second half, a giveaway by a Kicker defender inside the penalty area led to an easy strike and the 1-nil lead for Celtic. A few minutes later, Celtic were offsides, but a no call by the referee lead to another easy strike and the Kickers went down 2-0. The combination of Mark Bau and Ardian Hasco led to a Mark Bau goal in the 70th minute. The Kickers ran out of time and—lacking any subs—ran out of steam to drop some crucial points against a very beatable team.
Over-30 Legends
With several players injured or out of town, Kickers Legends faced a fully loaded Barnstonworth Veterans team with only two subs but managed to establish an early insurmountable lead, and then rode out the rest of the game. John Balson opened scoring around the tenth minute with the first of three tap ins off simple ground lateral crosses into the box. Joe Whitman blasted the second one in from the right side of the box around the 20th before John repeated his first goal act twice more for a 4-0 lead by half-time. Barnstonworth Veterans, with a full complement of subs, including erstwhile Kickers Paul Cowler and Shadi, staged a comeback, possessing the ball in Kickers’ half and pressing hard. The pressure produced a DJ own-goal, but Joe leisurely re-established the 4-goal lead from 4 yards off a John Balson cut back. Tiring legs allowed Barnstonworth an unchallenged but excellently headed second goal to complete the game score of 5-2. A notable play worth mentioning was Jesse Vozick’s dribbling the entire length of the field past the entire Barnstonworth team until the goalie who guessed Jesse would repeat the same prior 10 successful right swerve, and denied him a deserved goal.