Soccer Week 2 Mickey Mouse Club vs. Hungry Hungry Hippos

Mickey Mouse Club versus Hungry Hungry Hippos are scheduled to battle it out at 7:00 pm. According to the weather report, it says 75 degrees with 10% chance of precipitation, 38% humidity, winds from WNW 7 MPH. There are several Intramurals Supes on the Mickey Mouse Club team, and several players from the Hott Chicks team played on the Hungry Hungry Hippos. This game is being brought to you by the UMD Intramurals from College Park, Maryland, Turf Field #2.

Mickey Mouse Club starts with the ball in the 1^st half. Both teams look evenly matched. Five minutes into game Robyn’s excellent soccer skills and scoring ability put up the Mickey Mouse Club 1-0. The game is being played at a very high pace with a lot of passing. Two minutes later Raymond Zacharski scores to make it a 2-0 lead for the Mickey Mouse Club. The Hungry Hungry Hippos need to step it up if they want to win this game. The Goal keeper for the Mickey Mouse Club, Catherine Damon, made some really awesome saves to prevent the Hungry Hungry Hippos from scoring in the first half, even though they had some excellent chances of scoring.

Ten minutes left in the 1^st half, Rasa Ghaffarian who is a very awesome soccer player scores. According to Luis Velazquez, “It was a pretty sweet goal having dribbled down the field and shooting from the side.” Now the score is 2-1 Mickey Mouse Club. It looks like it is going to be a nail biter kind of match now with the Hungry Hungry Hippos down by just one goal. Half time score is 2-1 Mickey Mouse Club. The game has been a back and forth battle with both teams taking wild shots and missing golden opportunities.

To start the second half we see that the Mickey Mouse Club changes goalies from Catherine to Mike Warm. The Hungry Hungry Hippos start with the ball in the second half. Each team has controlled the ball very well and done a good job of passing the ball to open players. Mike Warm is making some excellent saves. He even laid out for the ball to make an incredible save. According to Mike, “Those kinds of save really hurt the next day.” As the sun starts to set in the West the temperature starts to drop and its getting a bit chilly out here on the Turf field… I wish I had a jacket… any way back to the game, which is turning out to be very close and exciting. With five minutes into the second half Phil Sharp has a nice fancy kick from an Assist from Catherine Damon to make the score 3-1 Mickey Mouse Club. It looks like they will be pulling away for a victory. But hold that thought because with just three minutes left in the game Adel scores for the Hungry Hungry Hippos to make the score 3-2.

Remember what I mentioned earlier about the game being a nail biter? Well. it is defiantly turning out to be one of those games. Just before that goal I talked to Matteo Bellistri about how he felt, and he said “We’re losing.” It is not about winning and losing it’s about having fun.

So now the score is 3-2 with three minutes left, anything is possible really so the Hungry Hungry Hippos make a “Golden Sub” and Adel comes out with Matteo going back in with one goal in mind and that is to score the equalizer. Matteo has been a star for his team with his speed and athletic ability, and somehow with about 20 seconds left in the game Matteo gets the ball and maneuvering through traffic, and scores the equalizer. It was so exciting, the crowd that consisted of three people went wild. I even jumped out of my seat because it was exciting. Now the game is tied 3-3 and that’s how it ended. After the game I asked Matteo how it feels scoring that goal he said with a smile “I was having fun.”

The Hungry Hungry Hippos even had a chance to seal the deal and win the game, but they blew there chance. Some may think that the Mickey Mouse Club were stupid for changing goalies or that Mike Warm Choked and lost the lead. However the two goals scored that made the score 3-2 or 3-3 were very tough to defend because there was a lot of congestion, and according to Mike “It was also hard to see.” The Hungry Hungry Hippos were missing their captain and star player Sonia Rada to a CPR class. Luckily they had Matteo to fill the shoes and score the tying goal. According to Matteo, “It hurt us but we got some good players here and one of our players also got hurt which was definitely a setback and we pulled through.”

According to Matteo of how his team played “We played better the second half then the first.” He also commented on scoring the equalizer “I feel a lot better now that we’re tied than before I went in. I wanted to score and definitely didn’t want to lose.” “It was awesome. It feels like a privilege [to be game of the week] and it is pretty cool.”

This is what Mike Warm had to say about his team performance “I think the team played great. We dominated the whole game and were able to stop the other teams top players from doing what they wanted to do. We unfortunately gave up two goals at the very end of the game but I am very optimistic about the rest of the season. I think we have a great chance to make a very deep run in the playoffs and hopefully we will make another appearance in the finals. It was cool being the game of the week. This is the second time one of my teams has been in the game of the week. So far have not managed to win one but hopefully third time will be a charm.”

3v3 Week 2 Math Team vs Variables

Tonight’s match up is from the Grad/Fac/Staff league. It’s between the Math Team and the Variables. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30pm. It should be a very good show down, because “It is the Clash of the Math Teams” According to Garrett Warnell. It’s going to be a very mathematical game. My math teacher from last semester is one of the players, Doug Galagate, who is also the Variables captain. It’s a nice surprise, and I wonder how well he plays. The Math Team looks like they have some talent and are making a lot of shots during warm-up; the Variables looks to very athletic with a lot of speed.

The game starts out slow but both teams reach 4 points pretty fast, so it looks like its going be a nail biter. Hold on, the Variables start draining shots: they are on fire to make it 9-4, so maybe I was wrong about the nail biting game. Both teams are playing extremely hard. You can feel the intensity in the gym. I mean you can even see the sweat dripping off player’s faces and forming puddles on the court; pretty soon we will need a mop to clean it up… ok I am kidding but it’s funny to think about. Now the Variables are no longer on fire, and now they’re in a scoring drought for a few minutes, but then they start to turn it on again and win the game 15-6 with Sebatsian scoring the winning basket. According to Doug “Sebatsian is the closer; he usually closes out the games.”

The Math Team played a very hard fought game even though they got crushed. They just didn’t get lucky with their shooting since they rely heavily on their shooting to win games. According to Garrett to succeed and play well next week “We need to work on rebounding and take a lot practice shots.”

After the game I got a chance to speak with my old math teach about how he thought he played. “I felt fine, made a couple of good plays and made 2 shots,” he said, “I don’t know who we play next week but were on a hot streak.” Next I asked what went through his mind while he shot the ball. “I was hoping it would go in. I will have to give some credit to the opponent. Each of the players played a good game.” The Math Team said even though they lost they will see the Variables in the finals. However, the Variables think they will go undefeated. Unfortunately, the Math Team could not calculate the correct Variables for a victory. The Variables now have a 4-0 record.

Soccer Week 1 Hott Chicks vs Lady Schnitzels

This is both teams’ first game of the season. The Hott Chicks are the visiting team and the Lady Schnitzels is the home team tonight. It’s a great night to be playing soccer in College Park Maryland on the Turf Field #1. The game is scheduled for a 6:00 pm showdown. According to the weather report, it says sunny with temperatures of 81-84 degrees, winds from the WNW at 14 MPH. This game is being brought to you by the Campus Recreation Service.

The Hott Chicks look to be very skilled and talented. They controlled the ball most of the first half. The first goal of the game was scored by Sonia Rada with 14 minutes and 30 seconds left in the first half. The first half ended with the score 1-0 in favor of the Hott Chicks. The Lady Schnitzels had a few good chances to score but they could not capitalize.

The second half was dominated by the Hott Chicks from the start with star player, Rada scoring with less than 1 minute into the second half to give the Hott Chicks a 2-0 lead. Rada continued her scoring run with another goal eight minutes later to complete her hat trick.

The Lady Schnitzels showed determination and never gave up, but could not finish their shots and they could not withstand the scoring prowess of the Hott Chicks. With 10 minutes left in the game, Shadi Moayedi scored off an assist from Diana Camargo to give the Hott Chicks a 4-0 lead.

At the onset of the game, the Hott Chicks looked to be the underdog. With no subs and playing a woman down, it appeared as if the Schnitzels could wear them down with frequent subbing and ball possession. However, the Hott Chicks, came out with confidence and did not let the odds bother them. After the game, I had a chance to interview and meet the Hott Chicks star player and team captain Sonia Rada. According to Rada, regarding her three goals and getting a Hat Trick; “It was awesome and nice to win even though being down a player… and once we were able to score it was nice to sit back and relax.” When I ask how her team thinks they will do the rest of the season, Rada replied by saying “We have other girls coming too, and another club player coming, hopefully pick up our level, get to the finals, and possibly even win.”

Rada has been playing soccer for about 15 years and it definitely showed during the game. The game was very fun and interesting to watch. Usually when a team is down 4-0 they give up and quit playing, but the Lady Schnitzels kept fighting and did not give. With some time to play as a team and with the return of their captain, the Lady Schnitzels have a chance to win some games in the coming weeks.

Rada’s response to this being game of the week: “It is awesome, didn’t even think there was such a thing and it’s an honor and we’re glad we were able to win and get this interview and have this cool chat.”

3v3 Week 1 Steady Mobbin vs Church Hill

The game was set for 7pm on Thursday the 9^th of September 2010. Steady Mobbin are the returning Champions from last year and are looking to defend their title. Captain, Adam Shapiro, said before the game that he is very confident that his team will once again go undefeated and win it all. The team’s energy and athleticism was apparent during warm-ups and they appeared to be ready for their season-opener.

Despite a strong warm up from both teams, the game was very sloppy from the start with a lot of passing and missed shots. Both teams played hard and it remained close for most of the game. It looked as if Church Hill would upset Steady Mobbin late in the game with an 11-7 lead. Steady Mobbin showed poise by hitting some quick two-pointers to take the lead and Adam Koffler hit the game winning shot to cap off an 8-0 streak.

Church Hill is a very young team comprised of three sophomores and one freshman, so I anticipate that with some time together, they can knock-off top teams in the league. I had the chance to talk to Benjamin McKinney from Church Hill and who said, “We have two players out because of ankle injury and once they come back we’re going to have some subs and give each of us fresh legs, and we all played basketball in high school so we will dominate the league and hopefully move up to A league once playoffs come around so we get some competition…and by the end of the season we will be on top and I can promise that.” According to McKinney, “Thomas Difato and Jimmy Eckard both played high school basketball and one of the players that is out due to injury from New York and averages like 40 Points a game.” We’ll be sure to keep an eye on Church Hill to see if McKinney’s promise plays out.