January, 2010:

Another great Saturday night for soccer at Manhattan Village saw Doxa overcome a strong Artesia team to move top of the league. Doxa coach John Gerard had a very strong squad to pick a starting line-up from. Dave Adams and Eric Meister moved into center midfield, while Ryan Taylor got the start up top beside Derk Droze. Doxa took control of the game from early on, and got some early shots on target. Steve Chirgwin had a few long distance shots that went close, ensuring the Artesia goalkeeper was alert on his line. The breakthrough for Doxa came from some good work on the right. Bryan Byrne took a long throw in, which Derk Droze got his head to. The flick on was perfect, as it fell to the onrushing Kyle Holland at the back post. Holland finished the ball perfectly in the keepers near post. Artesia did create some chances, one of which took a great save from Brandon Avery to keep out. Avery had to dive low to his right, and somehow managed to hold the ball with an Artesia forward closing in. The second goal of the game came from good work by Holland on the left. After beating 2 players, Holland played a high ball into the back post. Byrne had drifted in from the right and jumped with the Artesia defender and the ball broke loose on the ground. Byrne swung and half volleyed the ball into the far corner. Raul Palomares made his first appearance of the season, coming on for Taylor midway through the first half. There was a pretty interesting moment just before half time, when the ref called an indirect free kick for an Artesia backpass. After some debating, Steve Chirgwin touched the ball off to Nate Reeves who drilled the ball into the 10 Artesia players on the line. Somehow the ball managed to stay out…although Reeves did put one of the players on the line into the back of the net!

Doxa started the second half in cruise mode, which didn’t do the team any favors. In fact, Artesia looked like the better team and created some decent chances. The back line of Devon Toohey, Nas Koubaras and Nate Reeves had to work hard to keep Artesia out. Doxa did have some joy from the left, with Ilia Nazarov putting some great balls into the box. After some slick interchange between Nazarov and Palomares, Droze had a cracker of an effort (on the volley) that the Artesia keeper somehow managed to claw the ball out of the top corner. Soon after, a Sean Lockhart corner sealed the win. Lockhart placed a ball to Koubaras on the back post, who rose above the keeper and 2 defenders and knocked it back across goal to a wide open Byrne. Byrne placed it between 2 defenders to get his second of the game.

Amazingly, Doxa didn’t have a yellow card during the game, although there were some tough tackles. Nate Reeves, in particular, had his moments but for once he managed to avoid a booking. On another note, Matt Ogden might have avoided getting the yellow Jersey back for doing a decent job in his role up top. The midfielder subbed in up top beside Droze, and managed to keep the ball at his feet for longer than 2 seconds. Hey, its an improvement!! Next week see’s Doxa play second placed CGSA at 1pm. (Veterans Park Soccer Complex, Pomona)

Starting Line Up:
1.Brandon Avery
2.Nate Reeves
3.Devon Toohey
4.Eric Meister
5.Nas Koubouras
6.Dave Adams
7.Steve Chirgwin
8.Bryan Byrne
9.Derk Droze
10.Kyle Holland
11.Ryan Taylor

12.Matt Ogden
13.Ilia Nazarov
14.Ricky Figueroa
15.Raul Palomares
16.Matt Ogden
17.Sean Lockhart

Doxa continued their winning ways witha fine win on an extremely bumpy grass surface Sunday morning. With only 11 players, the Doxa team knew they would have to control the game from the start and that’s exactly what happened. Nas Koubaras was on fine hitting form, and the midfield partnership of Matt Ogden and Pete Hazdovacwere in no giving mood. With Captain Derk Droze enjoying some vacation time (aka gambling in Vegas) Gerrard chose a fast forward line, with Kyle Holland and Bryan Byrne running off of Mario Guerrero flick-ons. But the first goal of the game came from some slick midfield work. Ricky Figueroa and Matt Ogden played a quick one two, allowing the later to get to the end line and slide a ball back across goal for Figueroa to knock home. Doxa started to find some more space and chances came thick and fast. The second goal came from a Hazdovac ball from midfield, that found Byrne in space at the top of the box. Byrne took a touch out wide, to create space, like any good striker would, and drilled the ball past a frozen keeper. In fact, the keeper didn’t even see the ball flash by him! A third goal came soon after, with Figueroa getting his second of the game. The left mid picked the ball up just inside the Santa Ana half, and dribbled to the top of the box, where he placed his shot in the bottom corner.

Doxa’s right side saw a lot of action in the first half. The Russian Rocket, Nazarov, was involved in several great attacking moves and put in some great crosses. Nate Reeves was also having an interesting first half. The Olef Melberg look-a-like took the opportunity to get forward on several occasions, and nearly got in on goal a few times. Just before half time, Doxa got number4 and again it was Byrne, who got his second of the game. Pete Hazdovac took a pretty brash tackle from behind at the top of the box, but he managed to release the ball to Byrne, who slipped it by the keeper. Gerrard has a big decision when Droze gets back next week!! Soon after, Byrne slotted the ball into a wide open Hazdovac on the left. Unfortunately, Hazdovac’s million dollar left foot was stuck in neutral, and the chance went a begging!

With the score 4-0 at half time, Doxa just had to keep focused for the second 45. The center back partnership of Dave Adams and Koubaras kept things tight at the back. Santa Ana did have a few opportunities to get something on goal. And the yellow jersey was nearly in the hands of goalkeeper Brian Burdue, when a 45 yard shot barely eluded the goal…what a lob it would have been! It took Doxa a while to get the 5th goal (including a Matt Upton miss from 5 yards, of course it was a bounce that allowed him to hit the CROSSBAR) but when it did come, it was a great move. Some fine work from the Russian Rocket found Mario Guerrero at the back post. Guerrero took the ball down on his chest  and slotted the ball home. The 6th and final goal again came from work on the right side, and it was the hard working Nazarov who drilled a shot home from 20 yards. Matt Ogden got the assist on that one!

In the final moments of the match, the Santa Ana Winds were left wondering why they had not used their replacement keeper from the start of the game. Figueroa, on a hat-trick, placed a ball across the box to Byrne in the middle of the box. Byrne drilled a double shot, only to see the Jorge Campos look-a-like making what could be the save of the season! Enough said. Another successful Sunday outing for Doxa. Rumor has it the Yellow Jersey is going to one of the drunk no-shows….watch this space!

Starting Line Up:
1.Brian Burdue
2.Nate Reeves
3.Ricky Figueroa
4.Matt Ogden
5.Nas Koubouras
6.Dave Adams
7.Ilia Nazarov
8.Bryan Byrne
9.Mario Guerrero
10.Kyle Holland
11.Pete Hazdovac

No Show. Steve Chirgwin