Fred Meyer Commissioner’s Cup Semi-Finals Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs United 93 Johnson
This week we played United 93 in the semi-final match. The winner of this game would go on to play in the final Championship match next weekend. This is very familiar territory for us seeing as how Crossfire made it to this point in this tournament each of the last 2 years. Unfortunately this is where our season has ended in previous seasons. But this year it’s different. This year Crossfire rose to the challenge shutting out the opposition in a 1-0 win.
Crossfire came out firing right from the get-go keeping the ball in the United’s side of the field most of the time. The boys took many shots on the United’s goal eventually resulting in Nick putting one into the back of the net putting the pressure on United to come from behind the rest of the game.
Up next; Fred Meyer Commissioner’s Cup Championship match! (tentatively scheduled for February 21st) You can find tournament game results here; http://dev.wsysa.com.dnnmax.com/Scores/TournamentSchedules.aspx?Type=28&Gender=B&Age=11
Fred Meyer Commissioner’s Cup Game 3 Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs CW Twin Cities United
At the 77th minute Crossfire scored their 3rd goal, solidly sealing the victory and their advancement directly to the semi-final match. In the middle of a crowd of Crossfire and CW players at the top of the CW goal box Ben managed to get control of the ball and spot Joe off to the left. Ben set up Joe with a very well placed through pass behind the CW defenders. Joe took the ball towards the goal and finished with a nice shot into the far right lower corner.
Final: Crossfire Mercado 3 CW United 0
2009 Fred Meyer Commissioner’s Cup Game 2 - Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs SC United Fire 93 Wentland
We continued our Commissioner’s Cup journey this week with a home game against another unfamiliar opponent; SC United Fire 93 Wentland. The weather was absolutely fantastic. There was frost on the ground in the morning but by the 1:00 game time we had nothing but clear sunny skies! Liam was back this week but unfortunately Tyler is still recuperating. (Take time to make sure you’re fully recuperated Tyler. We want to make sure you’re 100% healthy when you come back!)
SC United took the opening kickoff but Crossfire immediately took possession of the ball and control of the game. Within 5 minutes we put 1 in the back of SC United’s net. Nick received a pass from the right side of the field at the top of the box and sent a nice, hard, left-footed shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
Crossfire kept the ball on their opponents side of the field most of the first half with a few over the top type fast break exceptions. On one such play Stevie smartly headed the ball back to the keeper instead of risk a one on one battle with a rapidly charging SC striker. At 36 minutes Nick* put another shot into the SC goal putting Crossfire up by 2 at the half.
Crossfire came out strong in the 2nd half continuing to put pressure on every loose ball and challenging every SC United player. TJ continued his free “Here’s how a good great goalie punts.” demonstrations by kicking the ball beyond the 50 yard line almost every time.
On one of the especially long punts Zach and an SC United player were both sprinting full speed after the ball charging towards the SC goal. Zach took possession of the ball by giving the SC player a little shoulder-to-shoulder “love tap” but apparently the ref didn’t like Zach’s expression of affection and he blew the fast-break play dead.
At 43 minutes Liam took a corner kick from the left side and *almost* pulled a “bend it like Beckham” just barely missing the far side of the goal. Two minutes later Liam took advantage of an SC United keeper error and scooped up a bumbled ball. He then sent a solid square pass across the front of the open goal to a charging Zach who finished with a nice kick into the back of the net.
The boys kept the pressure up for the remainder of the game and, except for a few brief moments, controlled the play and managed to keep the ball out of their side of the field, and most importantly, out of their own net.
Final Score: Crossfire Mercado 3 SC United 0
Up next; CW Twin Cities United! If we win this one we go to the Semi-Final match If we lose we go to the Quarter-Final before we can get to the Semi-Final.
You can find tournament game schedule and results here; http://dev.wsysa.com.dnnmax.com/Scores/TournamentSchedules.aspx?Type=28&Gender=B&Age=15
*I believe it was Nick that scored the 2nd goal but this reporter was so caught up in the moment and enjoying the fantastic game that he forgot to write it down. Please let me know if this is incorrect and I'll give proper credit!!!
We started the Fred Meyer Commissioner’s Cup tournament today with a home game against an opponent we haven’t played before; SK Elite 93. The weather was cold and damp but not severe enough to keep the Crossfire fans away. Liam was absent due to health reasons and Tyler was present but didn’t play due to an injury he suffered in practice last week. TJ was playing keeper. The boys wore white, white & black.
SK Elite took the opening kickoff and both teams fought for control. Crossfire got the first shot on goal at just 3 minutes when Joe took a well placed through pass right down the middle but the result was no score when SK Elite keeper stopped the shot. Three minutes later SK Elite was the first to strike when a very well placed shot from an awkward angle on the left side of the goal took Crossfire by surprise. This only seemed to energize the Crossfire boys though who fired right back. A nice goal by Simon just seconds later evened the score up at 1 apiece and seemed to take the energy out of the SK Elite team.
Both teams played hard for the final 20 minutes but as time wound down it became obvious that Crossfire wasn’t going to let this one get away. They fended off a couple of brief attacks by SK Elite and put together a rally or 2 of their own resulting in a some very close shots at the end and cementing the win.
Up next; SC United Fire 93
You can find tournament game shedule and results here; http://dev.wsysa.com.dnnmax.com/Scores/TournamentSchedules.aspx?Type=28&Gender=B&Age=11
This week Crossfire Mercado 93 took on NSC United in game 12 of the season. Despite the fact that United is only in 5th place they were not to be taken lightly. Yes, we beat them the first time we met them earlier this season but only by a narrow 1-0. Weather was cold & clear at kickoff time and we had a good fan turnout despite it being an early morning game on such a cold day. The entire team was present & healthy* and ready to play! *Except for Filip who was wearing a brace on his wrist covered with bubble-wrap. Crossfire took the opening kickoff and immediately went on the attack. At less than 2 minutes in Cole sent a nicely placed cross from the right corner to Simon whose shot went just slightly off to the right. At 4 minutes Nick beat an NSC defender down low in the right corner and sent a nice cross to the front of the goal. The next 6 minutes were more of the same with most of the action taking place in NSC United’s end of the field. The next 10 minutes NSC finally seemed to find some energy. The play was much more back & forth on the field although Crossfire did seem to still have the edge and was taking more shots on goal. At the 20 minute mark Zach took a hard shot which the keeper made a diving save for but then bobbled and temporary lost the ball. Simon was right there and almost had the rebound but the keeper managed to get his hands back on it. At 25 minutes Liam beat a couple of NSC defenders just outside the right side of their goal box and sent a beautiful cross flying right to the front of the goal. TJ got an almost perfect header on it but it bounced off the cross bar. At 27 minutes Joey intercepted a long pass, took the ball right down the middle and sent a long, hard shot towards the goal which the keeper just barely managed to knock out of bounds for a Crossfire corner kick.Finally, at the 35 minute mark; gold! Filip, bandaged arm and all, sent a nice free throw over most of the United defender’s heads to Nick. Nick beat 1 remaining defender, took the ball down low to the right goal line and sent a hard, low cross back across the front of the goal. The cross bounced off an NSC defender rushing back to help and banged into the back of the net! Score at half; Crossfire 1, United 0 NSC United took the kickoff to start the 2nd half and immediately put pressure on. The play seemed much more evenly matched in the 2nd half but Crossfire still managed many more shots on goal than United. Simon had multiple shots go off the post. Tim just barely missed a header off a nicely placed corner kick by Simon. At the 60th minute Liam beat an NSC defender than sent a nice forward pass to Simon who just had the keeper to beat. He finished with a nice, soft shot into the back of the net for Crossfire’s 2nd goal. At the 65th minute Liam had a one-on-one breakaway but unfortunately he ended up colliding with keeper who bravely made a fantastic, sliding tackle. Liam ended up leaving the game with an injured leg. At the 68th minutes Ben dropped a pass to Stevie who in turn sent a nice, lob pass over all the United player’s heads to Fish. Fish sent a nice shot lightly over the keeper’s head but unfortunately it just barely went over the goal. Note: A Crossfire player was issued a yellow card during the game after his not exactly sportsmanlike reaction and behavior after a questionable off-sides call. Note to this player (you know who you are) and all Crossfire players; you better behave yourself. Word has it that Santa's helpers may be showing up at games and they’re taking notes!!! You better watch out! You better not pout! Final: Crossfire Mercado 2 NSC United 0 Coming up this week, we have a bye for the holiday. No practice on Thursday and no game on the weekend. Have a Happy Turkey Day! The weekend after that we play LCV Barcelona at Fort Borst Park in Centralia.
This week we took on our very own club rivals, the Crossfire Select 93 Watts team. The last time we met these guys we discovered that this isn’t the same club they were last year. They really kicked it up a notch this season and proved that they’re a worthy adversary by holding us to a 2-2 tie. This promised to be a good game.
We had a full, healthy roster for today except that Tim wasn’t expected to be at the game due to being out of town. But, fortunately for us, his parent’s drove directly to the game after landing at Sea-Tac and had him there right at kick-off time. The weather at game time was cold but tolerable with a light, steady rain.
From the very beginning it looked like Crossfire Mercado came ready to play and was going to control this game. Crossfire Watts took the opening kickoff which they immediately booted down the field and out of bounds. Just a few minutes later, at the 5 minute mark, Nick sent a pass forward to Fish who quickly turned and beat 2 Watts defenders, headed hard to the goal and finished with a nice low shot into the left side of the goal.
With such an early strike it appeared that Crossfire Mercado was going to put this game away but this turned out to be the only score of the game. Mercado controlled most of the play but both teams fought hard. The game was physical and tough with fouls called on both sides including a yellow card issued to Spencer when he accidentally leveled a Watts player.
Crossfire Watts put the pressure on for the final 10 minutes trying to take advantage of their extremely fast offensive line but the Mercado defense managed to hold them off for the win.
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs HSC Kingbirds Week 2 of the regular season had Crossfire head for the hills of Newcastle to play a new team; the HSC Kingbirds. The sun was out, we had 1 of our regular keepers, Tyler, back from injured reserve and Stevie was sporting a fabulous new (short) hairdo! (“Who is that new kid on our team?” was heard more than once on the sidelines.) Crossfire took control of the game right from the opening kickoff and never let up. Unfortunately it became apparent rather quickly that this inexperienced new HSC team has a lot of work to do. The Crossfire boys had 6 unanswered goals by half time. But despite having little opposition, Crossfire looked pretty good, controlling the ball and moving it around well. Hopefully they'll remember the skills they got to practice in this game during future games when the other team is putting more pressure on them.
Here's a brief summary of the goals that were scored;
Time
Next Game; Warriors at Sixty Acres. The last time we played this team resulted in a 2-2 tie. Neither team has lost a game so far this season so this should be an exciting game!
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs. LCV Barcelona
Crossfire opened its regular season beautifully today with a beautiful game on a beautiful sunny day on the beautiful home field turf at beautiful Sixty Acres in the heart of beautiful Redmond! Even the beautiful Crossfire paparazzi were out! We had the full team present (which is beautiful to see!) with the exception of our regular keepers, TJ & Tyler, who are both beautiful, but unfortunately still on injured-reserve. As longtime Crossfire fan and beautiful lady Kim W. was heard to say, “What a perfect day for soccer, and a great start to our season!”
The Crossfire boys were looking good. They played aggressive, hard AND smart! They passed the ball well, they made good decisions, they challenged every ball and they scored goals. Lots of goals! Nine of 'em by time the final whistle was blown. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Barcelona took the opening kickoff. It was obvious that the visiting team had some talent on it as both teams battled for control of the ball, but Crossfire obviously came ready to play. At the 2:00 minute mark Stevie intercepted a pass and made a run on the goal, beat the keeper only to have his shot on the open net be barely deflected by a Barcelona’s toe at the last second.
The battle for the ball continued for another 15 minutes or so but Crossfire was slowly starting to take control, making regular runs at the Barcelona goal. At the 21 minute mark Spencer & Liam finally connected. Spencer sent a perfectly placed & timed pass through the Barcelona defenders towards the goal. Liam matched his move with the pass beautifully, sprinted past the last defender, ran up on the ball and finished with a nice soft shot into the lower corner of the goal. Way to go guys! That was a beautiful thing to watch!
Ten minutes later Zach received a similarly placed through pass to the goal. He fought past a defender to send a hard shot towards the lower left corner of the net but the ball bounced off the post. Zach wasn’t done though. Since he had followed his shot he was right there to get the “rebound” and finish by putting the ball into the back of the net!
Just 5 minutes later, at the 36:00 minute mark, Joey sent a long throw-in to Nick who in turn pushed the ball through to Fish. Fish beat a defender, took the ball across the front of the goal from left to right, and then sent a shot back across the goal sending the ball into the lower left corner of the goal. Nice finish!
To finish up the half Joey, aka “The Buttonman”, stepped up and was first to the ball at 15 yards outside the Barcelona penalty box. He simply squared up and opened fire; a cannonball of a shot; hard and high into the upper left half of goal and into the back of the net! At this point Coach Tony, who was featuring a new, streamlined hairdo, told the Crossfire players to work on passing the ball around before shooting. Score at half; Crossfire 4, Barcelona 0 The 2nd half was more of the same. Barcelona was obviously frazzled by Crossfire’s speed, confidence and well executed team play. Barcelona took the kickoff to start the half but Crossfire immediately stole the ball and continued to control the game.
At 57 minutes Spencer & Liam connected again with Liam sending a hard, left-footed shot into the back of the net. Once again, Coach Tony reminded Crossfire to work on passing and not worry about scoring, but I guess it’s hard to slow these boys down once they get going.
At 64 minutes Barcelona made a well executed attack on the Crossfire goal getting off a very hard direct shot from close range. But brave Crossfire goalkeeper Nathan did an excellent 2 hand block sending the ball flying high over the bar.
At the 66:00 minute mark Nathan and Simon got into the scoring act. Nathan took control of the ball midfield and sent a nice pass to Simon who finished with a nice left foot shot into the back of the net.
At 70 minutes Barcelona managed to rally and get finally put 1 into the back of the Crossfire goal.
At 74 minutes Fish scored his 2nd goal of the game off a nice pass from Ben to the right wing. Fish took the pass, faked his defender to go outside, cut inside and went straight to the goal finishing with a nice, soft shot into the lower right corner.
At 75 minutes Liam scored his 3rd goal of the game. Ryan was fouled just outside the Barcelona penalty box on the right side. Ryan took the free kick and sent a well place lobbing pass in front of the Barcelona goal. The ball bounced off a few Crossfire & Barcelona players until Liam managed to get a foot on it and send a hard shot into the back of the net.
With just minutes left in the game Coach Tony started putting the defenders in at forward positions giving them a rare opportunity to score a goal. Filip took complete advantage of the situation. With less than a minute left on the clock Filip received a pass on the right wing, cut inside his defender and sprinted with the ball directly towards the Barcelona goal. Coming in from the right Filip didn’t have an easy shot due to the hard angle he was at from the goal but he placed his shot perfectly; about 4 feet off the ground, just between the keeper & the inside of the right post and into the back of the net! Final: Crossfire Select 9 Barcelona 1
Next Stop; HSC Kingbirds 93 (away game, exact time/place TBD)
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs. FC Alliance White
Today we headed back up to Monroe to take on FC Alliance White in game 2 of the Sky River Tournament. The weather was much clearer than yesterday morning and it warmed up quite a bit. A lot of fans came out even a Crossfire Monkey! Once again we had a lot of boys absent due to family vacations. Of course our 2 goalkeepers, TJ & Tyler, were on injured reserve and our primary backup, Nathan, was gone so someone else had to step up. That someone ended up being Filip! And since Filip was in goal and our regular backup defenders were missing Fish ended up having to play fullback. Good job being flexible and stepping up Filip & Fish! Crossfire took the opening kickoff and did a fairly good job of moving the ball around with short, crisp passes. At 4 minutes Simon took the first shot on the Alliance goal but it went wide to the right. At the 10 minute mark Ben sent a shot over the bar off a nice cross from Cole on the right wing. At 12 minutes Ben shot barely missed another one on a corner kick pass from Alex. At the 14 minute mark one of those crosses finally found it’s mark! Alex laid a nice corner kick shot right in front of the goal where it found Simon’s skull and headed right into the back of the net! The rest of the half was more of the same with the ball being played in the Alliance end of the field most of the time. In fact, Filip didn’t touch the ball the entire first half (except for a goal kick)! Score at half; Crossfire 1, FCA 0 FC Alliance kicked off the 2nd half. 1 minute into the half Filip actually touched the ball for the first time! At the 35th minute Stevie & Alex did a great give & go series of passes beating 2 Alliance players in the process. Unfortunately Stevie ended up holding on to the ball just a little too long after that and eventually lost it. Sorry to say this ended up being a common occurrence in the 2nd half. The Crossfire boys just seemed to have a hard time finding someone to pass to and often held on to the ball a little longer than they probably should have. In the end Crossfire held on and won this match but it was by a much closer margin than it could’ve been if they had been playing their best game. But hey, a win is a win!
Final: FC Alliance 0 Crossfire Select 1
Next Stop; Sky River Tournament Game 3 vs Northstar
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs. Arsenal
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado traveled north to Monroe today to defend their title as Champions of the Sky River Tournament. The weather was overcast and drizzly early in the morning but started to clear by game time and was downright warm by halftime. Perfect soccer playing weather!
But the boys didn’t let the quick Arsenal goal get them down. They came right back playing hard. Simon had a shot at the 4 minute mark, then Stevie sent a couple of nice passes Cole’s way who took shots. Ryan, aka Muppet, had a shot.
10 minutes later we dodged a bullet when an Arsenal shot bounced off the left goal post. Wheew!
Score at half; 1 apiece
Hisham sent a nice shot into the back of the net on the right hand side of the Arsenal goal, putting us up by a slightly more comfortable 3-1 margin.
Final: Arsenal 1 Crossfire Select 3
Fish almost scored a goal A little over the net Fish close to a goal a little to the side across by Fish Joe put it in Joe scores Filip took a shot pass from Filip to Liam shot Spencer goal - cross from Nick Liam scores other team scores Tyler scores Stevie drops ball back to Joey and then Joey scores from defense position a shot by Stevie Alex scored a shot by Stevie over the net
score by Ben Liam tried to score by running inside the net. shot by Simon cross by Liam headed in by Nathan
us - 10 them - 1 We won!
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs. La Liga Tlaxti Westside Dynamo
The team & fans arrived at the game field around 1:00, an hour before kickoff. We were greeted by sunny, but overcast skies. This combined with the relentless wind made the temp less than ideal for sunbathing and had everyone running back to their cars for extra coats & blankets.
Crossfire won the coin toss and elected to go against the wind in the first half with the hopes of using the wind in our favor in the 2nd half when the La Liga players would be tired. We took the opening kickoff and the teams battled for control.
Unfortunately our opponents took advantage of the wind early and struck first. At just 3:00 minutes into play a La Liga player received a high pass over most of our defenders, somehow managed to get by Tim (that doesn’t happen very often!) and put the ball into the lower right corner just out of TJ’s reach.
The boys continued to fight the other team and the wind with both coming on strong most of the first half. We did threaten a couple of times; Liam sent a beautiful through pass to Joe who sent a nice shot towards the right side of the goal. Their goalie got to it though and Joe was called offside anyways but it showed we were on the attack!
At half time the score was still just 0-1 and we had high hopes for the 2nd half with the wind in our favor now.
But just 5 minutes into the 2nd half La Liga struck again. We were in attack mode and they caught us with our defenses down and managed to get a fastbreak with enough of a head start to outrun both Joey & Filip (THAT doesn’t happen very often either!).
Despite being down by 2 the Crossfire boys continued to play hard. At the 56 minute mark Tim sent a nice penalty kick into the center where Spencer forwarded it on to a charging Zach on the left side. Zach beat 1 defender and sent a hard shot over the goalie’s head. Unfortunately the ball bounced off the crossbar so no points but it got the team fired up!
At 59 minutes Liam went into hyper-drive, beat 3 La Liga defenders on a drive to the goal and took a shot which barely missed to the left.
At 68 minutes Crossfire finally managed to score when Simon sent a nice shot into the lower right corner from the middle of a scrum in front the La Liga goal. It looked like we might still be in this game. But alas, La Liga came right back and, on a breakaway play similar to the they scored on earlier, they put a 3rd goal in almost immediately after our score. The boys tried desperately to stay in the game but it’s always hard to play your best game when you’re playing from behind.
Final: La Liga 3 Crossfire Select 1
Coming Soon!
Crossfire Select 93 Mercado vs. NWN Select 93
Today we kicked off the 2008/09 season with opening day of the League Placement Tournament in sunny Pasco WA. The boys took on a familiar team with a new name. (We played these guys in the Commissioner’s Cup tournament last year.) The weather was beautiful at kickoff time; 80 degrees with clear skies and the boys seemed ready to go.
Crossfire took the opening kickoff and both teams fought hard to try to control the game with no obvious advantage to either side. At 10 minutes Simon almost broke through for a breakaway shot on goal but instead ended up getting fouled from behind by a NWN player and went down hard. Unfortunately he hurt his wrist and had to leave the game to go to the hospital for x-rays. (Dr. reported that his arm was badly bruised but not broken and prescribed a brace allowing Simon to play the in next game. Whhheeew!) Alex took the penalty kick which was a nice high shot over all the defenders heads but it went wide left.
At the 16 minute mark the wind suddenly went from noticeable to “hold on to your stuff!!!”! Fortunately the wind was blowing across the field sideways, not end to the end, so it didn’t give either team a particular advantage. Both teams were equally challenged to move and control the ball.
The rest of the first half went without either team managing to put one in. Crossfire had more shots than NWN but nothing finding the mark. We dodged a bullet at the 35 minute mark when a NWN shot into an open goal hit the left pole and bounced out. Shortly after that TJ gave Crossfire fans a scare when he went down during a valiant save in the middle of a pack of NWN & Crossfire players. He took a minute or so to shake it off and then continued on!
Score at half; Zero to Zero.
NWN kicked off the 2nd half and the wind continued to pound the players from both teams (and the fans too!) but Crossfire seemed to be taking control of the game with most of the play happening in the NWN’s end of the field.
At the 45 minute mark Liam took a pass just inside the NWN’s penalty box but was immediately put under pressure by multiple defenders. He tried to get free for a shot but when he couldn’t he dropped the ball back to Spencer. Spencer was also immediately put under pressure by NWN so he passed back to Stevie who was in open field about 35 yards out. Stevie sent a high, floating shot that the wind helped with just enough to send it over the goalies head. It hit the cross bar and bounced down into the goal. First score of the game! First score of the season! Crossfire up 1 – 0!
Having a goal under their belts seemed to boost the boys energy and they really took control after that. NWN tried to fight back but Crossfire was too energized to let that happen.
At the 61 minute mark Ben sent a through pass to Nick who finished nicely and put one in the back of the net! NWN continued to try to fight back but the Crossfire boys weren’t through yet.
At 72 minutes Alex sent a nice through pass to Liam who put a nice low shot into the right side, bouncing off the post and into the goal.
At 74 minutes Joey sent a nice penalty kick shot into the air that got to Alex who put it into the back of the net on the left firmly sealing a Crossfire win.
Final: NWN Select 93 0 Crossfire Select 4
Next Stop; League Placement Tournament Play - Game 2
