The Bailey Blog: Hitting the Home Stretch

It has been a long week for the team. After a nice break the week before last, we are heading down the home stretch and are gearing up for playoffs.

On Tuesday we played a non-conference game against a formidable opponent in Fresno Pacific. The plan was to give most of the team a good rest, while getting some of the young guys some minutes and a chance to prove themselves. They put together an inspired performance, but could not find the back of the net in the first half. Then trouble struck and Fresno Pacific showed why they are ranked in the top twenty five for NAIA, by putting us behind with a well finished opportunity. We hit the post several times, in the second half, but it was Scott to the rescue with about 4 minutes left in the game. Scott headed home a corner kick to put us into overtime. The game looked as though it was going to go the distance, but we pressured and got the ball back. Nate found me streaking down the middle, and as I penetrated through their defense I laid the ball off to my right, where Cam flew in and scored his first goal of his career. Nice way to start your scoring career, and a nice win for us, even if it was harder than we wanted it to be.

While Tuesday was supposed to be a day off, Friday sure felt like it. We traveled down to Monterey Bay for a very crucial game. After a draw in the first leg of the season, we could not afford to give away any more points at this point in the season. We showed up sharp, and turned what could have been a hard game into one that they will soon try to forget. About five minutes into the game, Lafon found the back of the net on a cross from Cam. It would take about twenty more minutes and many chances to find the next, Nate found Ross who sliced his way through the defense and slotted the ball to the back post. The half concluded with Davide blasting the ball into the back of the net from Ross, right before the whistle. Monterey pressed hard in the second half, but when Nate found Davide, who blasted another shot home, the game was all but over. The starters slowly found their way off the field, and we started to warm up the bus. Cam would get in on the scoring, along with Taylor Jones, who has to be SSU’s all time leading goal scorer as a goalie, now having score two on the year.

Sunday was a different game all together, as San Francisco always plays us tough. Joe Hunter, their coach, and Marcus are best friends, and thus love nothing more than to win against each other. That added to the fact that it was their senior day, we knew it was going to be a battle. I have to give props to SF State, as they honored our seniors too, which was really classy, but about the last classiest thing that they did. The game was really physical, as there were forty fouls, five yellow cards and a red card on the day. Nate started us off, and man does he love scoring at this place. Lafon slipped a ball into Nate as he streaked through, and Nate, with little angle on goal ripped a shot that had the post shaking for a couple minutes. About ten minutes later, Cam crossed the ball on a corner kick, and I headed the ball home from the near post to put us up by two. Alas the lead would not last too long, as about two minutes later, off a free kick from midfield, Brook came out to get the ball and was fouled, causing him to drop the ball. The ball bounced around for a couple of moments and was deflected up in the air to the other side of the net, where a SF State player was standing. I think Brook lost his temper, as he came out of nowhere and clobbered the guy, giving up a PK. The second half was pretty ridiculous; SF battled hard, but came up short. The game was turned into a slug fest, and we were just happy to get out of there with the three points, and our bodies not too banged up.

'Till next time this is Bailey signing off.