DEA Bedford Over 30

The Bedford Pacers were led by Jeff Bailey's hat trick in securing their second win of the season, a 4-3 decision against Lowell. The Pacers started out very flat, and turned the ball over just outside the penalty area. Chris Cloutier would need to make a save off a point-blank shot five minutes into the contest. Lowell kept the ball in the Pacers' end, eventually forcing home the first goal of the match off a goal-mouth scramble. Bedford looked to equalize, with Bailey and Marco Koolman working the ball down low for a chance that would just miss it's mark. Lowell would turn a non-threatening break into a neat one-two. The drive would kiss of the far post, and it was 2-0 Lowell. This seemed to get the Pacers going a bit, as the ball was in their offensive end for most of remaining time in the half. Marco's chipped restart was deftly flicked into the far netting by Bailey to make it 2-1 at the break. The second half would see a much better Pacer effort. Controlling the ball and knocking it around, the Pacers had a glorious chance when Jeff Guild was sprung through on a clean break from Bailey. Guild's shot was rushed, and slipped awry. Moments later, Lowell would break through on a clean break of their own. Cloutier would slide out to thrwart the attempt and keep it at a one-goal game. The save would prove vital, as Jamie New Guy (making his Pacers' debut), would serve a ball from the far right sidelines into Bailey inside the eighteen. Bailey would drive a low, hard shot for his second of the game and the match was all knotted. Minutes later, Peter Cline and Bailey would again find Jeff Guild streaking down the left side. This time Guild, fearing another verbal admonishing from Dale Dubois, would push his shot with the outside of this right foot for the go-ahead goal. A BIG goal for the Pacers, as they took a 3-2 lead on the play. With under 10 minutes left, Lowell would have a restart opportunity right at the top of the box. Lowell would drive the shot off the post, leaving Cloutier cemented to his line (again), but the referee would award a mulligan as he didn't blow his whistle to restart the play. Instead of trying a similar shot, this time the Lowell player would inexplicably slip a soft pass across the top of the box to a startled teammate. Cliney would pick it off and clear it deeply away. His clearance attempt was taken by Bailey, and he dribbled through, around, and by an assortment of Lowell personnel and deposited the insurance tally. Lowell would get one back in the waning moments to bring the final score to 4-3. A better effort than recent weeks for the Pacers. Marco and Chris Laberge's control of the midfield was vital to the Pacers' attack. Bailey netting three goals was very helpful as well. Peter Cline, Dale, Paul Cote, Rob Easton, and Chris Florek stymied much of Lowell's forays into Pacer territory. Jamie New Guy and Johnnie Guild each ran the flanks well in support of the offense. Pacers close out their home season next Sunday against Windham. Always a war, Pacers look to get to .500 to end the session. Game time is 9:00.

The Bedford Pacers and Westford would play 90 hard minutes on Sunday, ending in a 1-1 draw in Westford. Westford would take the early lead at the 20-minute mark, but Bedford would come right back 45 seconds later. That would be all the scoring on this day. After Westford's initial ice-breaker, Jon Cloutier would take short dish and got chopped to the pitch like a mango tree in the Brazilian Rain Forest. Rob Cissel would drive the restart through the wall and off the post. George Wegricht would finally push it home. After that, both squad's defenses would take over. Chris Florek and Dale Dubois made a formidable tandem on the middle, stopping one Westford buildup after another. Sean Kelly's sound positioning allowed him to clear away many a dangerous header. Peter Hall and Paul Cote also helped immensely in the Pacers' backfield. Chris Laberge & Jon Cloutier, along with Cissel, also had high work-rates and helped to quarterback the Pacers offense. Pacers keeper Chris Cloutier had a good day as well, coming up especially big on a far post header that was just paried aside with the referee keeping a watchful eye on the clock. The whistle would blow moments later. Pacers have a little bit of payback to Lowell next week. Game time is 9:00 at Legacy Field.

Short numbers would do the Bedford Pacers in again, this time resulting in a 7-2 thrashing at the hands of Stoneham. Stoneham would score early and often in this contest. They would break through off a turnover in the backfield, slamming home a point-break drive within the first 15 minutes. Amhad Boura would tie it up about 20 seconds later with a great individual effort. After that, it was all Stoneham. They would keep the pressure on, and would forge ahead with a 3-1 halftime lead. The second half started real ugly, as #6 would finish off his Hat Trick 2 minutes into it. So much for the valiant comeback. Stoneham would continue to run at will, hammering away and running the score to 7-1 before Ahmad would finish off his second (3rd in two games) for the final tally. A good effort by the Pacers, but today's lineup was outclassed. Many on the Pacers sidelines hoped for a prompt start to the match, as some had coaching obligations that would make playing a full match tight. Unfortunately, the referee was a few minutes late. No matter there, a majority of Stoneham's players were 45 minutes late. Sportingly, Bedford held the whistle until Stoneham could find the field. Bedford appreciates that Stoneham didn't run up the score as the game got out of hand and Bedford's tired legs and short bench couldn't keep up. Oh, wait...that didn't happen. Stoneham continued to pad their stats well after the game was settled. Hope they had a nice ride home. The Pacers will try again next week. Game time is 11:00 am in Westford.

The Bedford Pacers finally broke through with their first win of the season, topping a game Danvers squad, 3-1 at Legacy Field in Bedford. Ahmad Boura would make his Pacers debut, and would not dissapoint. His nose for the net was missing in some recent Pacers' contests. The first 20 minutes brought some back and forth play, with neither side holding much possession. Ahmad would get the scoring going on the receiving end of a Marco Koolman feed to give the Pacers a 1-0 advantage. The Pacers would have a few more chances, with Chris Laberge getting through on a couple of good opportunities. Pacers' keeper Chris Cloutier had a busy, but flawless, first half to keep the score at one-nil at the halftime. In the first two minutes of the second half, Laberge would provide the finishing header from Jeff Bailey's and Marco's tireless work, and the Pacers were ahead 2-0. Dale Dubois did a great job of keeping the intial corner kick alive and knocking it back into the mixing bowl to start the play going. The Pacers continued to press to keep the goals flowing, but couldn't find the next tally. Jon Cloutier and Ahmad would again get some great chances, but either they were stymied by some fine goaltending or a furtunate bounce of the post. Peter Cline also had a couple of good opportunities off some scrambles, but his backfield instincts took over and instead of scoring, he did a fine job of clearing the ball off the field (and into the woods......). With under 15 minutes to play, Danvers' maddening Greek striker Peter Iordanou - he of the good skills, maddening temper, and foul mouth - would rip a nicely placed side-webbing drive to get the score back to 2-1. The Pacers inability to get the two-goal advantage was looking like it would come back to haunt them. Danvers kept the pressure on, looking for their big striker in the middle, Leslie Exama, with every chance. Rob Easton would do a great job on silencing him and forcing him to throw himself to the pitch in an effort to draw a PK. The referee wasn't buying it. Chris Cloutier had to make two outstanding saves with under 5 minutes to play. The first was a driven-skidder that was pushed aside. On the ensuing corner kick, Danvers kept it alive with a couple of headers, and finally knocked one to the upper 90. Fortunately for the Pacers, Cloutier read the play and just tipped it past the post as much, but not all, of the ball had crossed the line. With just seconds to play, George Wegricht kept a cross in play, and played a short ball back to Marco. Marco's cross would find Ahmad, who in turn fed Jeff Bailey. It seemed to rattle around the box forever before finally crossing the line. The final whistle would blow seconds later signaling the Pacers victory. Chris Florek was again steady for the Pacers "D". He played with all effort, even tracking a ball all the way from his right back position to the left wing after a turnover. A great win for the Pacers. Look for them next Sunday again at Legacy Field. Stoneham is in town, and hopefully the Pacers can show them a better effort than this season's first match. Game time is 9:00.

An abbreviated Pacer squad showed up to take on the top team in the division on Sunday and left with their tails dragging and a 6-0 defeat. The loss was the worst in the franchise history. Bedford had 9 players at game time and was granted a stay as the referee was a no show. At the start of the match, the Pacers had 13, however, a number of key players were AWOL. Bedford was out matched from the start, giving up two goals in the first 10 minutes. The tally would increase to four by the end of the first half, with Windham controlling 90% of the play. Joe Correai did his best at the keepers role but was unable to stop the blistering shots from the Windham Strikers. Kirk, "your in the wrong sport" Murray had two goals in the Windham favor. The second of his goals registering 90 mph on the radar gun. DEA standout Corlton Simmond registered one and controlled midfield play. The second half was better for the Pacers. They controlled the ball better and had a number of chances to get things going but could not finish. Marco Koolman, played consistently well, but found himself alone too often. Peter Cline stepped it up in his midfield role and played very well. Scott Sharby and George Wegricht tried to open things up for the pacers and both had good chances to score, but the sure hands of Windhams Keeper, Derek Dane, would not allow Bedford on the board. Windham would net two more to make the final score 6-0. Bedford is back home this weekend in a must win situation with the Danvers Internationals. Unless Bedford starts to show up with the talented team that they have, they may be fighting to prevent relegation.