8/16 Region One Scrimmage -
No Offseason Sports @ 6:00 PM
Steel FC 4 - 2 Appalachia FC 1863
We hosted AFC 63 from West Virginia in our version of the backyard brawl and came away with a 4-2 victory.
We started off quick in this one when a shot from the edge of the box took a deflection and we were awarded a corner kick. Off the corner kick Matt Cillo made a near post run and headed the ball on frame but it was deflected out for another corner. Dom Gallieta came up from his CB position and whipped a great ball into the box where former Johns Hopkins standout, Rob Heuler, headed it home to put us up 1-0 in the 9th minute.
Later in the half great combination play from the backs up through the midfield found Anthony Virgara on the left flank. He took his guy one on one and laid the ball back off to Heuler at the top left of the box. Heuler put his foot through it and the ball just missed the top right corner of the net. Minutes later the whistle blew and we took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
The 2nd half started almost as quickly as the first when Lewis Osborne received a long diagonal ball on the left side from Galietta. He beat his man to the end line, cut it back inside, took a touch and ripped a right footed curler to the back post to make it 2-0.
As play continued we started to get more opportunities and again Osborne was a difference maker. He received a ball at the top of the box, drove forward into the box and was taken down from behind. The ref blew the whistle immediately and we were awarded a PK. Osborne stepped up and picked his spot to the keepers left. 3-0.
About 10 minutes later a nice interchange of play from the midfield found the ball at Matt Cillo's feet. He picked his head up and played a perfect ball over the top onto a running Lamine Baldé. Balde timed his run to near perfection and headed the ball out of the air and past the keepers diving attempt to the right in the net. This would've put us up 4-0 but a questionable offside call kept the game at 3.
However, not even 5 minutes later Balde received a ball, beat a man inside the box, faked a shot and was taken down. We were awarded our 2nd PK of the match and Balde slotted it home to the keepers right to extend the lead to 4-0.
With about 10 minutes left and tired legs, AFC 63 got a few chances and were able to capitalize on 2 of them. A ball given away in the midfield found its way to an open AFC 63 player with space at the top of the box. He curled a beautiful shot to the right of the keeper making it 4-1. About 5 minutes later we got countered off of our own corner kick and the lead was cut to 2.
The final 5 minutes we settled down and played possession to see the game out, resulting in a 4-2 victory.
Goals: Heuler, Osborne (2), Balde
Assists: Galietta (2)
Our next game is as follows:
8/23 GPSL Match
Steel FC vs Monongahela United
No Offseason Sports @ 5:00 PM
Stay Tuned!