West Mifflin fall in first ever playoff game, 3-1

West Mifflin 1-3 Indiana County FC

Vargo; Kutscher, Kufen, Pasternak, Bradaric; Baguet, Gauss, Hasson, Reed; Volk, Stinner

Subs: Hruska, Lee, Cyr, Nickel

0-1 Some Guy (27)
2-0 Some Guy That Looked to be Offsides
3-0 Some Guy That was Clearly Offsides
1-3 Matthew Alan

And just like *that* it was all over. Another hard fought season, one filled with unprecedented success came to an end Saturday seemingly as quickly as it started. Ironically, WMFC's 2010 season was ended by the same team that ended their 2009 season. In what was the only other time these two teams have crossed paths, Indiana County blanked the Blues 3-0 on the last day of the season at Borland Park. A year on, West Mifflin improved considerably, finishing with its highest points total in its history and earning its first ever GPSL playoff berth. Unfortunately, the Blues were unable to ride that improvement past the first playoff round.

I don't even feel like recapping this game. It was a miserably hot and humid day in Cranberry and the heat did nothing but compound the disappointment of defeat. It didn't stop some of the Indiana FC players from whining about every minor infraction, however. It makes one wonder what it would have taken to stop that. All of the universes suns converging on Graham Park simultaneously possibly? Probably not. Regardless, Indiana scored its first and only non-controversial goal after some really shoddy defending by West Mifflin. It was a shame because despite not being able to deliver passes properly for most of the game, the Blues had several chances to plod one home. Some Guy gathered the ball just outside the area and slalomed through the WMFC defense. Kutscher challenged but lost the 50/50, allowing said Guy to charge towards Vargo. I'm not sure if it was this goal or the second one but Some Guy curled one of the two nicely into the back corner of the net. West Mifflin regrouped before the restart and was able to hold that scoreline for about 10 minutes when the controversy began. After WMFC was completely unable to clear the ball from their own zone, a through ball was played to Some Other Guy who appeared to me to be at least a step offside. But, of course, the flag remained down and he was through on goal and slid it past Vargo comfortably to make it 2-0. A few minutes later it was halftime.

At halftime, some wise words from an Obi Wan Kenobi-like figure prompted the Blues to change their formation from a traditional 4-4-2 to a 3-5-3, in order to clog up the midfield and allow another striker to roam forward. Had this formation been employed throughout the season, it would have worked miracles. However, since this was the first time it was used, the effect was dampened. The Blues played better because of it but weren't accustomed to the adjustments that came with the new formation. Indiana's third goal had much less to do with WMFC's new formation than it did with the craptastic refereeing. As WMFC pushed to cut the lead in half, most of its players were close to midfield. Some Guy That Was Certainly Offsides stood on WMFC's side of the pitch as a long ball was played to him. Obviously unaware of the rule at that very second, both the side ref and the center ref allowed play to continue even though Some Guy That Was Clearly Offsides was two steps over midfield into WMFC's half. He got the ball, dribbled in, and blasted home to make it 3-0. That ruined any of the momentum and enthusiasm the Blues may have had after the rousing start to the second half they had.

After that, tempers flared, whining ensued and Baguet dropped several comedic nuggets as he is apt to do in times of ineptitude. He was eventually warned for saying 'mine' when pursuing a 50/50 ball. This behavior apparently pissed off the Indiana captain sooo much that he found it necessary to whine mercilessly about it until the ref, who clearly understood that no one else gave two queefs, eventually told Baguet not to do it again. Baguet's response?

I'm just gonna keep doing it anyway.

Very sportsmanlike, indeed.

The other resident hothead, Etan, managed to get kicked out of the playing area for employing the argument tactics of a small child. After another very questionable offside call against the Blues, Etan yelled something at the ref. The ref responded in a stutter: I AM IN LINE WITH THE PLAY. YOUR VIEW IS SKEWED!

Etan's rebuttal: YOU'RE VIEW IS SKEWED!

Then the ref kicked him out. When Etan started to pack up his stuff, the ref nervously laughed and said, 'Dude, you don't have to leave. Just be quiet." Yikes.

Eventually, Matthew Alan pulled one back for the Blues. Nick got in the area and drove towards the end line and sent the ball across the face of goal, right in line to Baguet's foot. He tapped it in and that was that.

Once again, congratulations to West Mifflin Football Club on making the playoffs for the first time. See you all at the alumni game on August 8th and for the Neville Island Indoor Season in October.