Doxa take on Botafogo-Blue in the final of the West LA league this Sunday. The game kicks off at 4.30pm at the upper fields on the West LA college campus in Culver City. This could be the 2nd Doxa league title in less than a month, after the team took the CSL title at Manhattan Village in mid-April. All are welcome to come check out the game.
Doxa, for once, came out victorious in a tough West LA semi final match. Full time saw the game finish 1-1, meaning the game went directly to penalties. Brian Burdue ended up being the hero as he saved the final penalty to give Doxa the victory.
Doxa’s goal came in the second half when Kyle Holland found space on the left, beat his defender and sent a cross into the box. Doxa managed to keep the ball alive in the box, until Derk Droze knocked a ball over his head and into the path of the on-rushing Ilia Nazarov who drilled the ball home.
Next week, Doxa will play the Final at the same venue, West LA College.
Goals:
#1 – Ilia Nazarov (Derk Droze)
1. Brian Burdue
2. Nas Koubouras
3. Eric Kaufman
4. Eric Meister
5. Dave Adams
6. Ilia Nazarov
7. Andrew Villalobos
8. Chad Evans
9. Steve Chirgwin
10. Derk Droze
11. Bryan Byrne
12. Raul Palomares
13. Kyle Holland
14. Devon Toohey
15. Marcus Watson
16. Ricky Figueroa
17. Tai Doan
18. Craig Reynolds
Doxa sealed the CSL league with a comprehensive 6-1 win over the Seahorses on Saturday evening at Manhattan Village.
After going down to an early goal from the most unlikely source (ahem Ricky), Doxa fought back in style to clinch the title. The first goal came compliments of a beautifully weighted cross from left back Eric Meister. The ball found the head of Ryan Taylor who guided the ball perfectly over the keepers head. The go ahead and all decisive goal came from a long ball out of the back. Nate Reeves played a long ball to the top of the Seahorses box where Bryan Byrne flicked the ball on to Kyle Holland. Holland took a touch and buried the ball to the far corner. The third goal came when Byrne closed down a Seahorses defender, stole the ball and took the ball forward for a one v one with the keeper.
With 20 players to choose from, Coach John Gerrard had no problems changing things up at half time. The fourth goal game soon after half and ultimately sealed the game up. Steve Chirgwin tricked the full back line and himself by whiffing at the ball, leaving it in front of the absolutely lost Trevor Persson. Persson, not knowing what to do with the ball, tried to replicate Chirgy’s whiff pass, only for it to come off his shin and into the back of the net!
Derk Droze, who arrived at half time, broke into double digit goals for the season with a beautiful right foot finish from just inside the area. And Raul Palomares capped off a fine Doxa performance by not only hitting the target with a free kick all season, but he actually scored!
Goals:
#1 – Ryan Taylor (Eric Meister)
#2 – Kyle Holland (Bryan Byrne, Nate Reeves)
#3 – Bryan Byrne
#4 – Trevor Persson (Steve Chirgwin)
#5 – Derk Droze (Steve Chirgwin)
#6 – Raul Palomares
1. Brandon Avery
2. Nate Reeves
3. Marcus Watson
4. Eric Meister
5. Dave Adams
6. Ilia Nazarov
7. Trevor Persson
8. Kyle Holland
9. Alex Bengard
10. Ryan Taylor
11. Bryan Byrne
12. Raul Palomares
13. Steve Chirgwin
14. Devon Toohey
15. Derk Droze
16. Sean Lockhart
17. Chad Evans
18. Ricky Figueroa
19. Eric Kaufman
20. Brian Burdue
Seems like teams are afraid to play Doxa at the moment. This weekend saw CGSA forfeit their semi-final clash with Doxa, while on Sunday the opposing team only had 6 players show up. Doxa will now have the CSL final to look forward to in the coming weeks, while the West LA win sees the team finish first, with playoffs starting next weekend.
It just goes to show the quality between Doxa and other LA teams who when faced with a challenge fold instead of stepping up to play a game!
Sundays win ensures a guarenteed top 4 finish for Doxa, and a place in the West LA semi-finals. With a strong line-up to choose from, John Gerrard went with a 3-5-2 to start the game. Captain fantastic Derk Droze took the weekend off to go surfing in Hawaii, but rumor has it he spent his Sunday on Google Maps trying to catch some of the action (either that or Ilia Nazarov hooked him up with some Russian spy satellite connections!) The first half was very uneventful and finished 0-0. Doxa changed style to start the second and went out in a 4-4-2, with Gerrard choosing to try use his wingers more.
It turned out to be an effective move and it didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken off a Steve Chirgwin cross. The hot headed playmaker laid the ball on a plate for a wide open Eric Meister 6 yards out, but being the generous guy he is, Meister decided to touch it on to the wide open Bryan Byrne at the back post who slotted it home. The second came soon after, from a lobbed ball to the top of the box. Eric Meister out jumped two men to win the header. The ball landed at the feet of Byrne who played a one-two with Steve Chirgwin, and hit a shot past the keeper from the top of the box.
Craig Reynolds and Tai Doan received “deserved” yellow cards after being subbed into the game, for walking onto the pitch two soon (go figure). Raul Palomares also got his name in the book for walking away from the referee as Doxa were taking a throw in. Apparently there is a different standard of refereeing in the West LA league! Steve Chirgwin, meanwhile, started doing some wind-sprints up along the right win. Very unusual for the stay at home center midfielder!
The third goal came from a great cross from the right. Ilia Nazarov beat two guys and drilled a peach of a ball to the back post. With Meister lining up to volley it into the back of the net, the defender decided he would take the credit and smashed the ball into the roof of the net! Doxa did give up a goal near the end of the game, but there was nothing the diving Brian Burdue could do about it as a freekick was drilled top corner. He did make some other terrific saves, including a fantastic save in the first half to keep the game at 0-0.
Goal 1: Bryan Byrne (Raul Palomares, Eric Meister)
Goal 2: Bryan Byrne (Eric Meister, Steve Chirgwin)
Goal 3: OG (Ilia Nazarov)
1. Brian Burdue
2. Devon Toohey
3. Chad Evans
4. Eric Meister
5. Dave Adams
6. Bryan Byrne
7. Raul Palomares
8. Marcus Watson
9. Trevor Persson
10. Ryan Taylor
11. Steve Chirgwin
12. Ilia Nazarov
13. Tai Doan
14. Craig Reynolds
