"We didn't underestimate them...they were a lot better than we thought" WC'90

Some of the team must have stayed in Washington...because we played like we were still on the bus.

The most common mistake in history is underestimating your opponent. It happened to the British in the American Revolution, It happened to the Patriots in the last Superbowl and it almost happened to the Petrides Blue Panthers in Game #3 of their final season.

I've talked before about the importance of a pregame warm up and arriving early to "Beat them before they get out of the Cars", but with game time fifteen minutes away, half the team had yet to arrive and the other half was enjoying the spring breeze as they lounged on the turf. The other team however, was busy warming up and talking about how they were going to bring down the giants...and they almost did.


The game started with some confusion about position assignments. "I'm on the left", "who's on the right", "I don't play here"...but sometime the coaches see things that the players don't. This team has been trained as a complete package and positions are sometimes changed to help the team.


The game got off to a slow start with the ball in our end in the first 20 minutes more then it was for the entire first two games. Malik Archer covered the whole field for the White Panthers and played against us as hard as he played for us this winter. Our ball handling was sloppy and Malik tried to capitalize on every mistake we made. Without the girls to cross, the team just couldn't get into a rhythm. It wasn't until Ryan Hapuarachchi took a shot from the right side that dropped short and a hustling Benjamin Bifalco barrelled it into the net for the first goal of the game, that we started to resemble even a shadow of the team that we knew we were. As the first half ended 1-0 the confidence of the White Panthers started to grow and they saw a chance to obtain bragging rights at the school.

As the ball rolled to start the second half you could see the change. The giant had begun to awaken. The team was developing momentum as the ball movement was crisp and the play became aggressive. Players started to shoot the open gaps and passes started to hit their marks. When another shot from Ryan was knocked down by the goalie and hand balled by a defender inches from the foot of Dean Ferrezza the insurance goal we were looking for was within our reach. But after Ryan's first PK was called off because of a slow Referee whistle, his second attempt sailed high into the crossbar and the White Panthers seized the opportunity and broke away down field.

A volly of shots on goalie Gaetano Sciove were stopped to save the lead and Richard Avvento cleared the ball to Greg Molina who broke down the right side and rocketed a low shot inside the far left post. Two minutes later , Greg did it again, this time from an impossible angle. Jabari Archer finished the scoring with a soft tap on a Bifalco cross in the closing seconds to end the game.

7 to go....

Practice: Wednesday & Thursday 2:30 - 4:30

Game: Sunday 4/20 9:00am (8:30 Warm ups) vs Richmondtown Jaguars



"The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy". Corrie Ten Boom