Bethesda Internationals

4 Nov. '06. After a couple of past attempts to get together for a friendly, the Arsenal and Internationals at last finally faced off at the SoccerPlex on a sunny but chilly day. Several players from both Arsenal/Internationals were teammates at B-CC and/or ODP and had fun playing against each other. The Internationals moved the ball well and played in the Arsenal's half for the initial 4-5 minutes, but the Arsenal would strike first off of a counter attack at about the 6 minute mark. An open Arsenal player on the right side received a long ball around 25-30 yards and fired a superb, hard, high shot into the left upper 90 of the net past Joe who could do nothing to prevent the shot from going in. Although the Internationals continued to move the ball well, the Arsenal's solid defensive back line stymied the Internationals from penetrating deep and open enough to take any shots on goal; however, at the 23 minute mark, the Internationals were able to score off of a corner kick by Skylar which sailed low into center of the box about 6 yards out, and after a flurry of action the ball deflected outward to Jamie about 15 yards out center who then struck in the equalizer goal. But, the Arsenal would score twice more before the half ended. At about the 29 minute and 35 minute marks, the Arsenal penetrated deep in behind the defense near the end line and successfully crossed low, short balls across an open goal mouth to teammates on the far post who easily struck in the two goals from left to right and then right to left, respectively. The Arsenal would shoot 5 times on goal, no corner kicks and committed 5 fouls, while the Internationals were held to no shots on goal, 1 corner kick and committed 1 foul. In the second half, the Internationals controlled play for the first 20-25 minutes, shooting 4 times on goal, 2 corner kicks but could not finish while committing 5 fouls (including 1 offsides). The Arsenal would control play for the remainder of the half, also shooting 4 times on goal to no avail (including a strong hard shot which Joe made a great save/stop) and 1 unsuccessful corner kick while committing 5 fouls (including 1 handball), and the scrimmage ended, 3-1, Arsenal.