Blues start season off with sound 3-0 victory

West Mifflin FC 3-0 Heidelberg

DeLuca; Kutscher, Gasparovic, Kufen, Bradaric; Reed, Pcholinski, Gauss, Baguet; Volk, Stinner

Bench: Nickel, Pasternak, Hasson, Kidd

Volk 18' 1-0
Volk 34' 2-0
Reed 80' 3-0

West Mifflin Football Club started their season off on the right foot with an impressive win over South division rivals, Heidelberg. It was an overcast and rainy morning at Titan stadium and while WMFC would have preferred sunshine, they will not be unhappy with the result; especially against a team that handled them at home 4-0 just two seasons ago. Everything was good for the Blues on this day though as they prepared to open the season at home for the third time in as many seasons. Everything that is, except for Trevor Kidd, who wore a baseball hat and a poncho during warm ups. If anyone has an explanation for this, other than it being really gay, I'd love to hear it.

The Blues were also playing their first game in their new 3,000-seater stadium on the campus of West Mifflin High School. In keeping with the blast from the past theme, Kufen and Kidd (despite warming up like a batty-boy) made their anticipated returns and put in good outings. With Heidelberg playing down a man, West Mifflin had the lion's share of possession throughout most of the first half. Any time Heidelberg looked like they were developing something, one of the Blues' industrious midfielders or defensemen got stuck in and regained the ball. With Vargo out at a science fair and second choice keeper Chad Perry out on coaching duties, WMFC regulars wanted to let backup keeper Jon DeLuca have a nice, quiet game. They did just that. DeLuca was hardly challenged on the day but did well when called on.

Stinner started the assault on the Heidelberg goal with a cross-shot. You know these things. It's a cross but since it's so poorly struck it soars toward the goal instead and just with a bit of luck it's actually on goal and the keeper has to make a save. And then, of course, whoever hits the cross-shot claims that he intended to do whatever outcome makes him look best. Anyway, this particular cross-shot led to WMFC's first corner and their first scoring opportunity. On the corner, several Blue shirts had a shot at opening up the season scoring, Volk in particular. The corner came in and Heidelberg didn't deal with it effectively. The ball bounced around the area and after one WMFC player put a foot into it, it was deflected and popped into the air. Volk had a glorious chance with a header but it was blocked and came back to him. He tried to head it back across the other side of goal but instead it went straight at the keeper.

A few minutes later, however, Volk opened the scoring. West Mifflin broke down the left side, something they did very well all day. Volk, Stinner, and Gauss all broke as Baguet(I think) wound up to send in the cross. When the cross came in, Volk got to it and put his left foot through it and into the back of the net. Or something like that happened. About a quarter of an hour later Volk doubled his tally and WMFC's lead. After some good work by West Mifflin down the sideline, Hasson found himself in the clear for a cross. Thankfully, Hasson actually plays soccer on a daily basis and his cross didn't suck tremendous ass. The cross was well placed and Volk met it head on (pun intended) and put it into the side netting beautifully.

It would appear that the training sessions WMFC had put themselves through the two weeks before the season have paid off. Corners, crossing, and possession passing were the three areas most worked on and it was these areas the team excelled in. The Blues would gain possession, knock it around the park nicely, play it down the sidelines, and then play a cross in. A lot of the play was lovely stuff and indicative of the type of play this team is capable of.

So, the first half came to an end with the Blues up 2-0. The locker room, which was really the least leaky section under the Titan stadium bleachers, knew that 2-0 was good, but the team was far from satisfied.

The second half brought more of the same as the first half. It eventually deteriorated into a typical GPSL game where one team is down a man or two. West Mifflin had chance after chance with an occasional counter by Heidelberg. This is where the defense needs to be praised. They were very good. The back four may be the best WMFC has ever had. Kufen, Gasparovic, and Kutscher were hard-nosed and relentless in challenging the Heidelberg forwards. Dalibor was outstanding as well as stopper, sneakily slipping in and taking the ball away at crucial moments and then finding a midfielder to move it along to. Sure, the opposition were down to ten men, but the defense looked really good. Even the forwards got in on defending well. Stinner tracked back to pick off an unaware Heidelberg attacker from behind. He gave it right back but that's not the point. Stinner also dove in and blocked a cross as well.

Despite the good defensive play, Kutscher did manage a howler. Now, it needs to be noted that just a few days earlier, Wednesday actually, during a four-on-four drill, Kutscher challenged Stinner to take a 'free-kick', a penalty of sorts, that was nothing more than placing a pass through the two cones making up the goal. Kutscher made some kind of comment like, "yeah, let Stinner take it...I know he'll miss." So, Stinner lined up to take the shot on the rock-ladled and crater-filled Borland pitch...whether or not he missed it or made it is beside the point really because on Sunday, Kutscher found himself alone in front of goal, with a keeper that, according to another Heidelberg player had never played soccer until that day. Kutscher wound up as the ball smoothly ran along the flawless Titan stadium turf and unleashed a Matthew Alan Baguet-like skybomb over not just the net, but the field goal posts as well. Heidelberg breathed a sigh of relief. I immediately remembered the training session...

There were two more clear chances that WMFC were not able to convert. This doesn't even include Trevor Kidd receiving the ball with no one in front of him and instead of running at the defender, turning and looking for someone to pass the ball off. First, I don't remember who it was but the ball was pretty much on the six and someone managed to boot the shot wide. Volk had a shot at the hat trick as well, diving for a volley that I believe went right at the keeper. However, these misses pale in comparison to the absolute shittiness of Reed's free kick. A free kick was given to WMFC about 25 yards out. Volk, Reed, and Pcholinski were lined up over the ball. I looked down at my journalist notebook for a second and when I looked up, I saw Reed quickly run to hit the shot. He hit it and we had our second skybomb of the game. The ball soared over the net and another goal scoring chance went begging.

Finally, WMFC got their third to kill the game off in the 80th minute. All it took was some masterful work by Bob Stinner. Having received the ball from Hasson or Baguet (I was in such awe of how well Stinner received the pass, I can't even remember who passed it to him), Stinner turned towards goal. There was a defender coming to him as Reed broke towards the net. As if he did the physics in his head, and it is entirely possible that he did, he played a through ball with the perfect weight to Reed who was looking to make up for his orbit shot that almost knocked out a military satellite earlier in the game. He eventually got to it and hit the slowest rolling shot in the history of soccer. Seriously, I saw a turtle running down the sidelines quicker than the shot. Regardless, it rolled past the keeper and into the side-netting, 3-0 WMFC. So, Reed gets his first goal to go with his first skybomb, with an assist from Stinner.

So, WMFC starts the season off with a win. The only thing that could have been a bit better was the fan turn out. Where were all the Blue-clad supporters that used to fill the Borland Park stands? As far as I could tell, WMFC had two supporters there. Mr and Mrs Volk. Now, I love a Mr and Mrs Volk sighting as much as the next guy, even if Mr Volk didn't recognize me at Danzey's going away party, but where are the throngs of supporters? Did they get lost on the way to the new venue? Perhaps they forgot the team has a new home. Whatever the reason, I hope they get it sorted out for the Route 51 derby against Elizabeth Forward next Sunday. Hope to see you there.