November, 2009:

Doxa came up with a good win to leave them in a comfortable position heading into a two week break.The first few minutes of the game were pretty nervy for Doxa, with the gunners having one or two good chances. Elminoufi and Reeves, in particular, had their moments! The opening goal of the game came through a long ball through the middle. Nate Reeves played a pinpoint ball into the path of Derk Droze, and the forward talisman had no hesitation in drilling the ball home for his 6th of the season. The second goal came soon after, and was a result of a tactical change by coach Gerrard. Nazarov and Byrne switched wings, and it was the later that took a pass from Pete Hazdovac, before beating his defender inside and drilling home from just outside the area.

That goal left the Gunners reeling and it wasn’t long before they had the third goal of the game. There is no denying that this one will go down as one of the best goals of the season. A brilliant passing move that started in midfield with slick passing from Craig Reynolds and Chad Evans ended up with Peter Pan laying off to Derk Droze. Droze took the ball in his stride and placed a fantastic left footed effort in the top corner. That goal was Droze’s 7th in 6 league games.
Soon after half time Doxa had their forth. It came through a Derk Droze flick on the Hazdovac. Pete took the ball in his stride, and with a man either side of him he half volleyed a shot past the keeper. The game quietened down after that, although Doxa should have had another few goals and at one stage a penalty for a handball. But it was Garden Grove who finished the scoring in the last minute of the game. The goal put a nasty dent in Brian Burdue’s goals against record….ouch!

On another note, Sunday’s kick-off was delayed 30 minutes due to the U19 AYSO final that went into overtime (as a result of playing 60 minutes + overtime, Ryan Taylor had to sit out the Doxa game)

Starting Line Up:
1.Brian Burdue
2.Nate Reeves
3.Omar Elminoufi
4.Craig Reynolds
5.Nas Koubouras
6.Chad Evans
7.Eric Meister
8.Bryan Byrne
9.Ilia Nazarov
10.Pete Hazdovac
11.Derk Droze

12.Ricky Figueroa

In the first home game to be played at Campus El Segundo, Doxa put in a stellar second half performance to take the win in a hard fought fixture. After Wednesday nights notorious ‘baby welcoming party’ incident, Coach John Gerard chose to give his regulars a second chance in the starting line-up. The game opened up with several chances coming Corona’s way, while Doxa had several clinical crosses come in from the right to no avail. After 20 minutes, Elminoufi and Reeves spelled out their intention to play physical soccer. Reeves at one stage put it to the Corona frontline something like “this is how I play B#*ch, get used to it”. Elminoufi, meanwhile, was spending some time pulling players down and running some other guys over. The odd man out, Nas Koubourus, had to be content with Reeves yelling at him also! Corona took the lead midway through the first half with a header at the back post. Soon after, Brian Burdue was called into action and made a terrific save to his left, when a Coraona shot took a deflection of a leg on its way to goal. The Doxa equalizer came right on the stroke of half time. Koubourus played a long ball over the Corona defence and into the path of Eric Meister, who one timed it back across goal. Derk Droze (right) came sliding in to tap the ball home.

The second half started a little differently, with Coach Gerard moving to a 3-4-3. This had an immediate effect, with Doxa controlling the ball in the Corona half. The go ahead goal came from the industrious Chad Evans, who shot from 25 yards out, only for his off target effort to hit a Corona leg and fall in front of Pete Hazdovac. Pete decided to play with the ball a little before shooting, and ended up dummying a shot to put the keeper off. It worked, although it also tricked Pete himself, but the big man still had the nohow to drive the ball home from 2 yards!! After a few more substitutions, Doxa got a third goal. Matt Ogden was the man to get it, toe poking a dribbling shot into the bottom corner while doing a little pirouette (see video below). Doxa finished up the scoring 10 minutes from time, when captain Derk Droze drilled home a right footed cracker from outside the area. Mario Guerrero was the man to supply the assist.

On another note, the largest crowd of the season was on hand for the game, with some of the Doxa Hierarchy turning up to enjoy the win. Next weekend sees Doxa play back at Manhattan Village with an 8pm kick off versus the Garden Grove Gunners.

Doxa came out of this one with a great win, in what could be one of the most difficult places to play this season. This is mainly due to the playing surface, that tested Doxa players all over the field! It was not a pretty first half to say the least. The closest Doxa came to scoring was a break away, which Pete Hazdovac knocked just off frame. Artesia did have a few break aways, but Brandon Avery dealt with a few testing long range efforts. In terms of the field, touches were all over the place with a few players letting the ball slide past them on numerous occasions, Eric Meister and Devon Toohey. Omar Elminoufi had a funky moment, when he jumped to head a ball only to put it into the path of an Artesia striker. Luckily, the shot ended up hitting the corner flag!

At half time, coach John Gerrard made some changes, including one that had a huge impact. Pete Hazdovac had to leave at half time, so Ilia Nazarov came in on the right with Matt Upton moved to his usual position up top. The second half started just as sluggishly as the first had ended, but a goal in the 60th minute changed all that. A long ball was flicked on by Derk Droze into the path of Matt Upton, who took the ball 20 yards before unleashing a shot past the keeper. With that goal, the floodgates opened! Within 2 minutes, Artesia got back into the game with a well taken goal that started from the Doxa left mid position. But, this only spurred on Doxa who scored less than 60 seconds later. Ilia Nazarov played a long ball in from the right, a defender and the keeper jumped for the ball, knocking it to the top of the box where Droze was waiting. With the keeper off his line, Droze looped his header over the last defender on the line and into the back of the net. Doxa soon got a third (and what was the 4th goal in 10 minutes) when Brandon Avery threw the ball into the path of the Russian rocket on the right. Nazarov bolted down the line and after beating a defender to the ball at the byline, crossed to the top of the box where Steve Chirgwin hit a screamer on the half volley that hit the underside of the bar, bounced off the line and back up into the net. Rumour has it that the ball took a horrible bounce to land in Chirgy’s path…but Chirgy stated after the game that he struck it just as intended! Either way, it will go down as a nominee for goal of the season! Doxa’s 4th came off another nominee for goal of the season. In what was one of the sweetest passing moves in recent times, a long ball was played to Mario Guerrero who knocked it down to Matt Ogden. The Englishman played a wonderful give and go with the creative Villalobos, before Ogden threaded a ball through to Matt Upton. Upton beat the offside trap and drilled the ball past the keeper. A few minutes later, Upton sealed his hatrick on as assist from a Villalobos through ball. Upton again beat the offside trap and from the same angle as the first goal, drilled the ball past the keeper.

This ended the scoring, and a very productive game for Doxa. On another note, it was great to see such a fantastic showing on the sideline, with several subs and a lot of family joining the Doxa team.
Next weekends game will be played on Saturday at the El Segundo campus field. More info to follow later this week.