Thursday, July 3

"Controversy on The Oval"

Keeping in line with the rest of the international soccer community, the ITSL is not without its own controversies. During the hotly contested match-up this week, the AutoMatic Ball-Event Recorder (A.M.B.E.R.) device malfunctioned and the game was cut five minutes short. "Who knows what may have happened if we had those extra five minutes." said Team Wisdom spokesman and captain Joe Spina. Team Youth however saw it differently: "Oh please, those old guys didn't have any steam left anyway, an extra five minutes of running might have killed one of them." said an anonymous athlete after the game. Regardless of the timekeeping problems, this game featured the fast-paced and dynamic play we've all come to expect from the ITSL. Team Wisdom (which was comprised entirely of people over the age of 30) scored both of its goals within 30 seconds of each half. Team Youth was heralded by its local Russian phenom Mike (2), and its transient stiker: Darby Biggart (1). The highlight of the game was definitely Richard Lee's miraculous goal 25 seconds into the second half. Youth ultimately triumphed over Wisdom by a score of 3-2. So, with heavy hearts, and bad backs, Team Wisdom bent down and collected the cones.

Teams

Game Recap

Team Wisdom set an ITSL record for "fastest score" with a lightning quick first half goal (Joe Spina) 28 seconds into the game. The game was evenly matched for most of the half, and Team Youth was able to tie the game with a late score by Darby Biggart, sending the teams into the half with a score of 1-1. Team Wisdom broke its own ITSL record when Richard Lee bent a shot around the defense and scored a goal 23 seconds into the second half. Not to be outdone, Mike Russia quickly tied the game back, and then also scored the go-ahead and game-winning goal with 5 minutes left to play. Final score: 3-2

Friday, June 27

"First Officially Scored Game"

This week's game was marked by a new change in the Team Choosing System (TCS.) The TCS board (led by Amber Mottola) chose the teams without the benefit of team captains. This turned out to work well for Team 1, but not so well for Team 2 who suffered a humilating defeat  in front of Phil Simms and his entire Elite Quaterback Camp. On a similar note, the future NFL stars were overheard saying: "I could never play soccer because it involves running for 45 minutes." (let's hope he gets drafted by the Miami Dolphins.)
As with every ITSL matchup, this week had its fair share of excitement and drama as well. There were two amazing slides to save a goal by both Anthony Spina and Blaise Vanden-Heuvel, and lightning quick moves my Team 1's Phil. There were also some not-so pretty plays: Kevin Terrio was smashed in the face by Benson Liu, and Jeff Gutkin shamelessly up-ended Team 1's Michael "Daddy Long-Legs" Johnson in the second half. All in all, the real winners were the players themselves, whose lives were further touched by the awesomeness that is IT Soccer.

Teams

Game Recap

Team 1 beat Team 2 by a score of 4-2. The first half was dominated by Team 1, with scores from Anthony Spina(1), Blaise Vanden-Heuvel (1) and Phil(2), while Team 2's only score of the half came from Tope Ayeni(1). The second half was better balanced, and Team 2 manganged to score on a goal by Benson Liu (1). Once again Team 2 lost, and assumed "cone-fetching" responsibilities.
 

Friday, June 20

"Back to the Oval"

After a temporary change of venue, the ITSL (InfoTech Soccer League) returned to its rightful place in the universe: 40°36'55.52"N,74° 5'41.24"W otherwise known as the Sutter Oval to you non-IT folks. This week's matchup featured new, as yet untested, rookie talent mixed in with the battle-hardened veterans of the ITSL '07. While the game itself was low in score, it was high in excitement. Richard Lee's amazing late-game goalie heroics may have saved the game for Team 1, and Jude "Boots" Vanden-Heuvel set the ITSL defenseman record for most touches resulting in a corner kick at 165.

Game Recap:

Team 1 (Captain: Adam Ismaeil) defeated Team 2 (Captain: Blaise Vanden-Heuvel) by a narrow margin: 3-2. Team 1 got off to an early 3-0 lead with goals from Anthony Spina (2) and Vicotria Lynch (1) and amazing first half goaltending from none other than Pat Schoknecht. In the second half, Team 2 stepped it up a notch, and scored two goals late (both by Vanden-Heuvel) to bring the game to a nail-biting 3-2 score with fifteen minutes left to play. When asked about his second loss in as many weeks, Coach Vanden-Heuvel wondered why Adam Ismaeil plays brilliant defense when playing against him, but puts forth a lack-luster performance when playing with him. We may never know, and questions such as those are best left to the philosophers. Whatever the reason, Team 1 emerged victorious and a Darby Biggart-less Team 2 begrudgingly collected the cones.

Friday, June 13

"Employee Appreciation Game"

This game featured many new faces and quite a few changes. First, there was a change of venue to the baseball field due to a "Relay for Life" walk on the Oval. Second, there was a change of time. The game started at 3pm instead of 5pm because of an early dismissal. This impacted the game in a few ways: it was much hotter than the evening games, the turf was more brittle, and less people came out to play. Lastly, there were changes in personnel. Jose & Jeff were both on vacation, but walk-on rookie sensations Darby Biggart and Victoria Lynch stepped up, changed the level of play, and ultimately the course of the game itself. Albeit a brief stint for Darby, who's brilliant first half play was cut short due to "logistical problems." And an IT Soccer staple returned from his cruise with a vengeance: Blaise Vanden-Heuvel.

Game Recap:

Team "Old Farts" beat Team "Whipper Snappers" by a score of 5-4, proving once again that growing old rocks. Paul Liu and Victoria Lynch combined for 4 of the 5 goals scored by Team "Old Farts." Anthony Spina, Adam Ismaeil and Kevin Terrio lead the charge for the "Whipper Snappers" with superb assistance from Coach Blaise Vanden-Heuvel. According to Coach Vanden-Heuvel, Team "Whipper Snapper" was unable to hold its lead during the second half when it "didn't feel like playing defense." This ultimately cost them the game, as the Joe Spina - Victoria Lynch tandem proved too much for goalie Terrio.
 

Friday June 6

Good Game! Our 3rd game of the season featured a well played 6 vs 6 match. Johnson and Paul Liu made their first appearances and for Mike, it was his first ever. When asked about it, Johnson replied, "I can't believe I used to make fun of you guys, this is awesome, I'll be here every Friday!" Thanks Mike, and welcome. Frank Cafasso also took the field for the first time this season and he was heard saying, "Ahh, my leg." Feel better! Click Here for Game Images

Game Recap:

Team 1 beat Team 2 by a score of 5-4. Both teams played well, and there were no injuries this time around as we all got the rust out. The game was not without some scary moments though, as Johnson slide tackled himself and later was seen playing twister with the metal chain that surrounds the Oval. Player of the Game: Pat- Made some key plays and actually stayed a little passed 6pm! Red Card of the Game: The white chain that attacked Johnson Yellow Card of the Game: Seneca, laaaate show. Lame-O of the Game-O: Blaise, being on a cruise is no excuse!

Friday May 30

Our second game of the season and thanks to Mike Johnson and his Camera (that I told him to buy,) we have Images! Click here and check out the fancy shmanzy picture viewer.

Game Recap:

Well this time around we had about 12 players and 11 of them were injured within the first 5 minutes of play. Most injuries were caused by... running. Yea. So, Team 1 came back from a 2 goal deficit to beat team 2 by a score of 5-4. Andrrrrrrea scored the game winner as she went top shelf against Benson who, in his defense, was nursing a sore everything. That's about it for this week. Look for Mike Johnson to make his long awaited debut, this Friday! Player of the Game: Richard Li - you can break his ribs but not his soccer spirit! Red Card of the Game: Joe Spina.. Sorry Richard Yellow Card of the Game: Paul Liu, no show AGAIN!! Lame-O of the Game-O: Jose Torres - BooHoo!

Friday May 23

Our first game and no pictures! Oh well. We had a great turn out with 87 people and we all played at once. Player of the Game: Jeff "I'll punch you in the" Gutkin Red Card of the game goes to: Benson Yellow Card of the game goes to: Blaise Lame-O of the Game-O: Paul Liu = No Show

Recap:

Team 1 beat Team 2 by a score of 6-4. It was a close game for a while until team 1 got a big boost when Maradona (google him kids) and the guy with no shoes showed up. Blaise spent most of the game on the ground while Pat and Ivonne set up camp in the goal. Hopefully we'll have a good turn out again this coming Friday and hopefully someone else will volunteer to write the game recaps! -Joe