Unfortunately, I missed the first 15 minutes of the game as I stopped in to Bristol Farms to pick up a boxed dinner (mashed potatoes and chicken) and missed the first 2 goals of the game! As a result, the following report was copied from ESPN!
Doxa Italia 3 – PSA Reserves -1
Doxa Italia went into the the knockout round of the Raul Briones Cup facing PSA Reserves. Doxa previously played this same squad defeating them 3-0 with a limited squad. Tonight they had a strong side starting the match and it showed right from the starting whistle. PSA is an organized side and has some good talent but struggled defending against the precision passing and ball possession of Doxa Italia.
Meister's celebration included lifting up his jersey!
Doxa put pressure on the PSA defense immediately taking many shots and making the PSA GK work to keep Doxa off the scoreboard. Andrew Villalobos took a smashing shot from 25 yards out only to have it blocked by the PSA defense. The ball landed at the feet of left back Eric Meister who proceeded to smash a volley from 35 yards out that S curved pass the sprawling PSA keeper into the upper 90 of the right side of the goal. Easily the goal of the year (so far) – voted on by the Grunions B&G Doxa Italia supporters club.
Doxa Italia continued to pressure up top which led to a great give and go that had Andrew Villalobos alone at the top of the box smashing a shot off the near post and into the net giving Doxa a 2-0 lead after 25 min. PSA did not give up and started to create their own chances. The Doxa defense (*COUGH* Nate Reeves *COUGH*) was struggling clearing the ball and one errand clearance found it’s way to a PSA MF that passed to a wide open FW who was one v one with Doxa GK Brian Burdue. The PSA forward took a little too long to shoot the ball and Burdue was able to smother the shot with a diving save to his left saving Nate Reeves butt once again.
Shortly after The PSA GK was hitting his stride in drop kicking 80 yard bombs into the Doxa defense.. One of these bombs was brilliantly volleyed into the path of an on rushing forward who was alone on goal against Doxa GK Burdue. With Burdue rushing out making himself as big as possible, it forced the forward into a quick outside of the foot shot that just went wide of the post. At this point it was the Andrew Villalobos show who must have had 15 shots in about 10 min. With the PSA keeper making some good saves to Andrew smashing it off the post to just not scoring the all imp0rtant 3rd goal.
The 2nd half began with PSA having a positive outlook being down 0-2 and the Doxa defense just being lazy. The combination of Nate Reeves thinking about after match sushi to PSA pushing forward led to PSA having some possession in the Doxa half of the pitch. No real chances were had and Doxa GK Brian Burdue had little to do except freeze in the brisk So. Cal night air. 2nd half changes were made with Tai Doan, Derk Droze and Sean
Kyle "Evgeni Plushenko" Holland?
Lockhart coming in to help get the all important 3rd goal. It didn’t take long as a Sean Lockhart corner was flicked on from the near post to a wide open Kyle Holland who headed home the 3rd goal from 3 yards out. Cracks were made that Kyle Hollands new mullet hair cut was styled after Russian ice skater Evgeni Plushenko. The similarities are SHOCKING.
PSA were still not giving up and especially with the Doxa Italia defense being lazy and an ill-advised back pass from Devin Toohey to GK Brian Burdue who was busy counting the stars through the rain clouds violently disconnected a clearance that landed right at the feet of a PSA FW at the the top of the box. With Burdue rushing out the PSA F crushed a shot just outside the reach of the diving Burdue but not being rewarded with a goal as the ball smashed off the outside of the far post. Shortly after Doxa MF Tai Doan decided to give PSA a chance by back passing to a PSA FW who was alone on goal against GK Burdue. Burdue rushed out forcing the PSA FW to adjust his attack and missing an open goal shot. PSA still did not give up as a foul just outside the box created a chance that PSA did not squander and a Doxa defense just watched as the tall PSA FW headed home the goal that would kill the Doxa clean sheet. It would be too little too late as the final whistle blew and Doxa once again came out as the winners.
Starting Line Up:
1. Brian Burdue
2. Nate Reeves
3. Eric Meister
4. Devin Toohey
5. Craig Reynolds
6. David Adams
7. Steve Chirgwin
8. Ricky Figueroa
9. Kyle Holland
10. Andrew Villalobos
11. Ryan Taylor
12. Sean Lockhart
13. Tai Doan
14. Derk Droze
