SCOTLAND YARD NEWS: Adidas Classic Tournament
09-15-08
Heading into Friday evenings game against Allegheny College in the Ohio-Northern Adidas Classic Tournament, the guys were eagerly looking for another win. Following a tough loss to D2 rival Northwood, the guys put in a couple days of good, hard practices and appeared ready to open up their first away game of the year with a victory.
We arrived in Ada, OH after a long bus trip down I-75, breaking once to get lunch and to stretch our legs. The weather upon our arrival was in true Scottish form; cloudy, cool, and overcast with a slight but comforting drizzle. The guys had to adjust to an abbreviated warm up on Ohio-Northern’s practice field as there was another game currently being played on the game field.
With the warm up behind us, and the first blow of the whistle, we quickly got into an intense, physical game against Allegheny College. 0-0 at halftime, the guys started to understand what it was going to take to win this game and looked eager to make the proper adjustments for the second half. We played better than the first half, but had two costly defensive mistakes that ultimately cost us the game in the end. We have to concentrate on playing 90 minutes without lazy mental lapses. And although the game could have gone either way, we unfortunately came out on the short side of a 2-0 loss.
After the game we headed back north to Findlay, OH where we were staying in the Quality Inn Suites right off of I-75. We quickly checked in our rooms, cleaned ourselves up, and then headed off on a short walk to the Outback Steakhouse that was just down the road from our hotel. It was nice for the guys to get a good, solid meal away from campus, as some of them had stayed in Alma since arriving for camp back on August 17th. A number of the guys even attempted to eat one of Outback’s famed “bloomin’ onions”.
With a hearty meal in us we headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest. However, we awoke to torrential rains and some flash flooding. Our parking lot was mostly standing water, and we began to fear the worst as far as the conditions down in Ada. But after the short drive down to Ohio-Northern, our fears of inclement weather were quickly dissolved and we were anxious to step on the pitch.
Again the winds were not in our favor as we fell to Manchester College 1-0. In another game that could have gone either way, we saw a dramatic change in officiating style, one that did not allow us to get physical and challenge for the ball. In addition, we found again that we have to concentrate on playing and defending as a team for the full 90 minutes. More mental mistakes led to our fate against Manchester. So we climbed back on the bus for a long ride home and a days rest so that we could really start preparing for Hiram College in the coming weekend.
Posted: Mon, September 15th, 2008 at 12:53AM
