It isn't often that a soccer match between 10 year old boys carries much significance, but yesterday's game against the Chantilly Soccer Club Strikers certainly was a statement game about the success of boys youth soccer in the Chantilly area.  It was also a statement game for The Scorpions.

The fact that two of the top boys U11 teams in the entire metro area reside in Chantilly is further proof that the days of Alexandria, Falls Church, and other "inside the Beltway" communities dominating youth soccer are quickly coming to an end.

The Strikers are arguably the strongest team in division two this season, and it would be an easy argument to make that they should and could be a successful division one team.  They are deep, talented, and well coached.  They are also the McCoys to our Hatfields.  There are deep and tangled roots between these two teams, with players on both sides being schoolyard and neighborhood pals.

Both teams had tough, close games the day before, and both teams had won, so expectations were high on both sides of the field for another game in the win column.

The Scorpions came out unphased by the hype and "press" of the Strikers.  The Boys played toe-to-toe and for large stretches of the first half outplayed the Strikers.  William opened the scoring with goal that found his foot while the ball was bouncing around in front of the net.  (This was actually William's second goal, as the first goal was waved off by the referee after a late whistle claiming William was offsides.)  The cumulative effect of having two goals scored upon them so early in the game put the Strikers back on their heels and the Scorpions were able to control the flow of the game with tough tackling and smart passing.

The Strikers are fast and talented and as the first half was winding down, they were able to even the score at 1-1 when TJ charged out to challenge a one-on-one breakaway and the player successfully shot the ball past TJ's outstretched arms.

The second half began much more evenly matched and the teams exchanged body blows in the center of the ring, neither team giving the opponent any quarter.  Then Adrien received the ball off of a deflection and was able to dribble in to the left side of the goal and slot the go-ahead goal about five minutes into the half.

The Strikers were undaunted and began attacking relentlessly, running players up and down the wings and playing long through balls into space to take advantage of their team speed.  The Scorpions defense hung tough and TJ made some great saves, but the constant pressure proved too much and The Strikers tied the score at 2-2 with about ten minutes to play.

After making a difficult save, TJ landed squarely on top of ball with his solar plexis.  In combination with the fall and the high heat and humidity, TJ was forced to leave the game and Sam was called upon to fill in at goalkeeper.

Being down one of the best defenders on the team is a tough assignment, but Sam, Alex, and Michael did their best to maintain the tie.  When one of the Strikers broke through the defense and was heading directly to the goal with no defender in front of him.  Alex streaked across the field and had one choice...let the player continue unobstructed to the goal, or knock him off the ball.  For those loyal Scorpion fans, we all know what Alex chose...he knocked him off the ball and off of his feet...in the penalty box resulting in a penalty kick.  The penalty kick was well-struck, but Sam made a tremendous save and the tied game remained.

The Strikers continued to attack at full throttle taking multiple shots.  Sam made several terrific saves and deflections that resulted in several corner kick attempts for the Strikers.

As the game was winding down, the Strikers played a corner kick across the front of the goal mouth.  The ball went through the area, but as it was on its way out of bounds, Alex reach up instinctively and hit the ball with his arm.  The result, another penalty kick attempt with the clock running.

Again the penalty kick was well-struck, but Sam was still able to get his body in front of it only to have the ball get away from him and roll into the net for the game winner.

While the Scorpions did not win the match, they played one of the area's best teams straight up for nearly sixty minutes.  The Boys can hold their heads high knowing that they played hard; they played well, and that they will be a team to reckon with in the future.

This weekend's slate of games demonstrated the high level of heart and dedication these boys have for each other.  As parents we should be very proud of their efforts and congratulate them.  Next week's game will be equally difficult.

Really, at the end of the day, what else can the casual observer say about our game against Waldorf other than, "the better TEAM won?"  Our boys played their collective behinds off yesterday, on the road, and in sweltering humidity.

For those of you who may remember, we played this Waldorf team in the Hagerstown tournament to end the Spring season.  We lost 1 - 3, but we were without Tyler and Adrien.  Clearly we are a stronger side with those two young men, and both played critical roles in our victory this game.

To recap:  Waldorf scored the first goal of the game (and the only goal in the first half) when their striker, who was clearly offsides by more than five yards, beat TJ one-on-one.  (An interesting side note...the Waldorf coaching staff immediately apologized for a clearly bad "non-call" that resulted in their first goal.)

Dejected and tiring during the halftime break, Coach Abdi reiterated to the boys just how strongly they were playing.  The Scorpions were outhustling, and outperforming Waldorf, they were just unlucky.  Through the entire game we hit a total of four posts/crossbars, and missed a penalty kick.  The Scorpions hit the field for the second half with motivation to keep pushing forward knowing that good things would occur.

Unfortunately, Waldorf scored their second goal and with about 20 minutes remaining in the game, the Scorpions found themselves with a two-goal deficit.  Without TJ making some tremendous saves during the scoring lull, the Boys could have found themselves in a much bigger hole.

After the second goal was scored, Coach Abdi took the input he received from Tyler and Aidan during the halftime break and flip-flopped the two young men to place them in their more normal positions:  Tyler on the wing, and Aidan in the center.  This move created an immediate goal with Tyler beating his man down the sideline, cutting in to the goal, and slicing a low ball inside the near post to bring the Scorpions within one.

Waldorf began to struggle with the heat as several players were leaning over and holding their shorts, and at one point a Waldorf player sat down on the field for three to four minutes because he couldn't press on.  The Scorpions, however, found a reserve of energy and took control of the game.  We won every ball.  We out-passed, out-hustled, and simply out-played Waldorf.

Aidan was unstoppable in the middle as he continued to press forward for his own shots or was distributing passes for his teammates.  Aidan equalized when he received an assist from Tyler and with about five minutes remaining, the Scorpions had tied the game and sucked the life out of Waldorf.

The fans and coaches implored the Scorpions to continue hustling, and my gosh if they didn't find a THIRD wind.  The Scorpions simply exerted their will upon Waldorf and shut them down.  Waldorf was unable to create any offense after the Boys tied the game.  With an assist from Aidan, Adrien drove down the left and drove the nail into the hearts of Waldorf with the game-winning goal.

Moments later, the referee blew her whistle and the Scorpions realized that within a dedicated and hard-fought 20 minutes, they had climbed out of a 0-2 hole to claim a victory that was rightfully theirs all along.

Great job Scorpions!  Let's keep up that type of effort in the weeks to come!!

Faithful Scorpion supporters;

I have found it difficult to begin documenting the trials and tribulations of the team because I am still working my way through the separation anxiety that I have felt the past few weekends.  It has been tough sitting on the parent sideline.

Be that as it may, all good journalism must encompass both the positive and the negative, and while it is clearly more fun to speak about the positives surrounding our team (and there are many), the last few games have demonstrated that we have our work cut out for us if we want to compete week-in and week-out in Division 2.

Our first game of the season came against arguably one of the top three teams in Division 2:  the McLean Legend Green.  We met McLean to open the Spring season last year in the FPYC tournament.  While we played in the finals of that tournament, we couldn't work our way past McLean.  Given our history, both Randy and Abdi had no preconceived notions of grandeur.

The game began strongly for both teams with the boys challenging for possession and playing strong defense against a high-powered offense.  It wasn't until approximately twenty minutes into the first half that McLean worked the ball between our defenders and placed an exquisite strike past the diving reach of TJ.

TJ kept our offense in a counter-attacking mode with several booming punts that drove the ball deep into McLean territory, but we failed to capitalize and entered halftime down 0 - 1.

The heat and the humidity (thank you Tropical Storm Hanna) began to wreak havoc on the Scorpions almost immediately after the second half began.  Because of the slight incline of the field, the Boys were forced to run uphill to attack McLean's goal.  When McLean won the initial coin toss, it smartly decided to start the game running uphill knowing that their boys would be able to attack downhill in the second half.  While this strategy was not the deciding factor, it was the move that the Scorpions would have made if they had won the toss.

Simply put, McLean's bench strength (and as it became more and more obvious throughout the game)  it's conditioning, simply wore down the Scorpions.  McLean scored its second goal midway through the second half and the Boys allowed frustration, exhaustion, and dejection (the three "tions" of the Apocolypse) to take over.  McLean began attacking relentlessly, and if it were not for some fierce goaltending, the score could have been higher.

While the day was not what any of us would have hoped, there were some bright spots:  TJ was terrific; Adrian fought back from a firsthalf knee injury to come oh-so-close to scoring with a booming kick that the McLean keeper was able to deflect just as it was about to fall under the cross bar; and both Aidan and Tyler had strong scoring opportunities in the first half that were corralled by the goalkeeper.

The Boys need us now more than ever.  They need to know that playing a high-caliber opponent each week requires hardwork and toughness.  But more importantly they need to know that it is O.K. to make mistakes; it is O.K. to lose to a superior opponent, and that we will support them no matter what happens on a soccer field.

The beauty of competitive sports is the learning that accompanies the play.  ABC Sports hit the nail on the head 30+ years ago.  There is the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."