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Boney don't know soccer
(as an aside, I survived the night with no ill effects. No clue to the cause, and I hope it doesn't repeat).
The final score was Kixx 14, Baltimore Blast 7. Interestingly, scoring rules have changed since I've played -- every goal is now 2 points unless you're behind the yellow line, in which case it's 3 points. *shrugs* Whatever
Oddly enough, I'm a tad surprised that the Kixx one. During the first period, Baltimore really outplayed them and definitely showed themselves to be faster, better ball handlers, and much more of a finesse team. They took the early lead with the Blast ahead 5-3 going into the second quarter. I was very not impressed with Kixx and started enjoying making fun of them to B. The Kixx were also very aware of the speed issue because the entire game they played conservative defense and frustrated me continuously by standing around and letting the Blast play with the ball instead of aggressively pursuing it to try to make an interception.
Second period, I don't know what the heck happen, but the Kixx got a fire lit under them (and a lot of luck handed to them). I need to expain that the Kixx have one player, Boney, that looked like he was either an ex basketball player or an out of work AFL lineman. 1) he was slow as all get out despite being at least 6 foot (and towering all over the rest of the player who were mostly 5'8 and below). I swear, I could outrun this guy. 2) Ball handling, umm, no. Very very poor. Kicking was definitely not what he was trained to do. 3) He had a very dumbfounded look on his face any time he was in the game. I've played with enough newbie soccer players to recognize it -- he was confused and never knew where he was supposed to be. I only assume that the Kixx have had a lot of injuries or something to make use of him. They primarily used him to rest their speedier forwards and never ever trusted him to be on defense (in fact, the guy never ran back for defense hardly anyway since the small amount of running on offense seriously winded him).
So now you know Boney.
The second quarter started off with a goal for a tie by the Kixx when the Blast was shorthanded after a penalty (they use the penalty box like in hockey). Immediately after the Blast got back to full strength, they got discombulated and were only focusing on the good Kixx players which left Boney open right next to the goal. He got a pass and kicked it across the goal (how the Blast goalie missed it, I don't know) and then it was kicked in by a Kixx player on the other side.
The Blast goalie was very pissed that Boney had participated on this goal, let me tell you. Another Kixx goal was scored before the break making Kixx up 9-5.
The third period was actually the best of the game even though no goals were scored. There were several penalties and injuries early, but for the last five minutes, the Blast were desperate to make a goal to decrease the Kixx lead. They ultimately failed, thanks to outstanding goal tending by Pappas. But it was the most exciting run of the game.
The Fourth period showed the Blast getting very very annoyed and also failing to pull together enough to come from behind. During the game, the Kixx shots on goals pretty much were 2-1 to the Blast even though the blast were playing better defense and controlling the ball most of the time. The Kixx really pulled it out for the last quarter and actually reversed that for the most part. They scored twice more, including one quick 2-point shot from a penalty kick that infuriated the Blast goal tender who contested that it had been made prior to the whistle. I actually didn't see the shot and tended to agree with him, but home field advantage won out and the goal was given to the Kixx.
Shortly after that with five minutes remaining, the Blast pulled the goal tender out and instead put on a sixth man who could then double back to play as goalie. It didn't help because the Kixx finally started challenging the Blast and stealing the ball away. Frustratingly, they'd just then send it down field without any following player to follow it up and so they missed about four chances to score before they finally got lucky that the ball went on course and no Blast over took it giving them a 3 point goal at around 2 minutes remaining.
All in all, much better than the NHL game we went to because they played for more than three minutes at a time. Again though, I was surprised at how not "great" the players were on average. Also, both teams failed to make much use of the walls for passing or scoring attempts. I don't know if it's because of poor ball handling or because the walls at the Spectrum aren't very accurate. (I always played indoor at places that were dedicated to indoor so the field was never dismantled and were much sturdier than the walls appeared to be here).
The final score was Kixx 14, Baltimore Blast 7. Interestingly, scoring rules have changed since I've played -- every goal is now 2 points unless you're behind the yellow line, in which case it's 3 points. *shrugs* Whatever
Oddly enough, I'm a tad surprised that the Kixx one. During the first period, Baltimore really outplayed them and definitely showed themselves to be faster, better ball handlers, and much more of a finesse team. They took the early lead with the Blast ahead 5-3 going into the second quarter. I was very not impressed with Kixx and started enjoying making fun of them to B. The Kixx were also very aware of the speed issue because the entire game they played conservative defense and frustrated me continuously by standing around and letting the Blast play with the ball instead of aggressively pursuing it to try to make an interception.
Second period, I don't know what the heck happen, but the Kixx got a fire lit under them (and a lot of luck handed to them). I need to expain that the Kixx have one player, Boney, that looked like he was either an ex basketball player or an out of work AFL lineman. 1) he was slow as all get out despite being at least 6 foot (and towering all over the rest of the player who were mostly 5'8 and below). I swear, I could outrun this guy. 2) Ball handling, umm, no. Very very poor. Kicking was definitely not what he was trained to do. 3) He had a very dumbfounded look on his face any time he was in the game. I've played with enough newbie soccer players to recognize it -- he was confused and never knew where he was supposed to be. I only assume that the Kixx have had a lot of injuries or something to make use of him. They primarily used him to rest their speedier forwards and never ever trusted him to be on defense (in fact, the guy never ran back for defense hardly anyway since the small amount of running on offense seriously winded him).
So now you know Boney.
The second quarter started off with a goal for a tie by the Kixx when the Blast was shorthanded after a penalty (they use the penalty box like in hockey). Immediately after the Blast got back to full strength, they got discombulated and were only focusing on the good Kixx players which left Boney open right next to the goal. He got a pass and kicked it across the goal (how the Blast goalie missed it, I don't know) and then it was kicked in by a Kixx player on the other side.
The Blast goalie was very pissed that Boney had participated on this goal, let me tell you. Another Kixx goal was scored before the break making Kixx up 9-5.
The third period was actually the best of the game even though no goals were scored. There were several penalties and injuries early, but for the last five minutes, the Blast were desperate to make a goal to decrease the Kixx lead. They ultimately failed, thanks to outstanding goal tending by Pappas. But it was the most exciting run of the game.
The Fourth period showed the Blast getting very very annoyed and also failing to pull together enough to come from behind. During the game, the Kixx shots on goals pretty much were 2-1 to the Blast even though the blast were playing better defense and controlling the ball most of the time. The Kixx really pulled it out for the last quarter and actually reversed that for the most part. They scored twice more, including one quick 2-point shot from a penalty kick that infuriated the Blast goal tender who contested that it had been made prior to the whistle. I actually didn't see the shot and tended to agree with him, but home field advantage won out and the goal was given to the Kixx.
Shortly after that with five minutes remaining, the Blast pulled the goal tender out and instead put on a sixth man who could then double back to play as goalie. It didn't help because the Kixx finally started challenging the Blast and stealing the ball away. Frustratingly, they'd just then send it down field without any following player to follow it up and so they missed about four chances to score before they finally got lucky that the ball went on course and no Blast over took it giving them a 3 point goal at around 2 minutes remaining.
All in all, much better than the NHL game we went to because they played for more than three minutes at a time. Again though, I was surprised at how not "great" the players were on average. Also, both teams failed to make much use of the walls for passing or scoring attempts. I don't know if it's because of poor ball handling or because the walls at the Spectrum aren't very accurate. (I always played indoor at places that were dedicated to indoor so the field was never dismantled and were much sturdier than the walls appeared to be here).