Bethesda Internationals

29 Oct. '05. Once again, Inter played out at Muldoon's farm -- for the 6th and final time this season. Although the skies were sunny, the wind was blowing fiercely and the mid-50's temps felt like upper-30's. Today, Inter faced the always hard-working and determined McLean Thunder, and it had the wind to its backs in the 1st half. Inter controlled the tempo of the match, moving the ball easily upfield, setting up 6 shots on goal and 2 corners in the 1st half while committing 6 fouls. At about the 16 minute mark, Nicholas sent a nice cross from about 20 yards out on the right into the center of the goal area about 10 yards out where Vitalis perfectly timed his jump and struck a hard header into the net past the keeper. The Thunder were able to penetrate into Inter's side of the field 2-3 times and managed a single shot on goal which was easily caught/stopped by Nat, and committed 3 fouls -- one Yellow card awarded to #12 for pulling Skylar backwards. Against the wind in the 2nd half, Inter created 7 shots on goal, no corners and committed 7 fouls, while stymying the Thunder to no shots on goal, 2 corners with 3 fouls. Within the 1st minute of the second half, Vitalis received a pass on the left near the mid-center line and dribbled upfield to the left corner area and sent what appeared to be a nice service into the goal mouth and the keeper attempted to punch the ball out but it deflected off of his finger tips into the goal. One minute later, in what appeared to be an instant replay, Ebo received a pass on the left side and dribbled upfield to the Thunder's left corner area and sent another appraent service into the goal mouth which sailed over the keeper's outstretched arms into the net. With about 2 minutes left to play, Skylar, who was repositioned to stopper, cleared a nice long ball upfield about 30 yards into the Thunder's side where Ben collected the ball, dribbled forward a few steps and then made a nice through pass to Nat (who was replaced by Ben at GK and then Ebo subbed for Ben later in the second half), on the right about 10 yards out and Nat struck in a nice hard shot past the keeper into the net for Inter's 4th goal. End of match, 4-0, Inter.

26 Oct. '05. Brackets were posted and Inter has been positioned in the Champions B division with some very highly competitive teams from Region I, II, III and IV: Champions B/Group A: - Ambush Red (GA Champs) - First Coast Kyx (FL Semi-Finalist) - Lonestars Red (TX ??) - Ann Arbor Arsenal (MI 4th) Champions B/Group B: - SSC Munich (NJ Champs) - Vardar Red (MI Finalist) - Littleton United (CO Semi-Finalist) - Inter Bethesda (MD Finalist) Sat., 11/12: 9:00AM, v. SSC Munich, #20 1:30PM, v. Vardar Red, #19 Sun., 11/13: 8:00AM, v. Littleton United, #22 12:30PM, 1st A v. 1st B, #22 Champions A/Group A: - CASL Elite (NC Semi-Finalist) - Concord Fire Elite (GA Semi-Finalist) - Grand Valley (MI Champs) - Clearwater Chargers (FL Finalist) Champions A/Group B: - Chiefs Premier (GA Finalist) - RFC91 (VA Champs) - Freestate Titans (MD Champs) - North Meck Storm (NC Champs)

16 Oct. '05. Inter hosted ASC Milan for its first home game at the nice MD Soccer Plex today. The weather was expected to be mostly sunny but unexpectedly turned into moslty cloudy skies with strong blustery winds which made the upper 60's temperature feel downright chilly. Inter won the toss and had the wind at their backs in the 1st half and controlled the play/tempo for much of the match. The scrappy ASC Milan battled Inter and managed several counter-attacks to no avail with only 1 corner kick opportunity and committed 3 fouls. Inter setup 5 shots on goal and 3 corner kicks while committing only 2 fouls. At about the 26 minute mark, after a foul committed by ASC, Skylar launched a free kick from about 25 yards out into the box where Ben jumped up and headed in the 1st goal past the ASC keeper. And, 7 minutes later, on a counter attack, Mati received a pass and dribbled upfield on the left and then made a pretty pass from about 35 yards out across field to Roque about 20 yards on the right, and Roque dribbled to about 10 yards out and slammed in the 2nd goal around the 33 minute mark. With about 1 minute left in the half, after Skylar sent a corner kick high into the box around 4-6 yards, the keeper jumped up to punch out the ball at the same time Marcus was leaping up to head it in and they both collided and crashed to the ground. Both players were slow to recover but without any serious injury and were able to resume play several minutes later. In the second half, Inter launched attack after attack and sent 13 shots on goal with 1 corner kick and 3 fouls, while ASC managed 2 shots on goal. Inter was in great form in the 2nd half, setting up a number of scoring opportunities close in the box with fine passing, but a number of shots went wide or high of goal. Ben played keeper to give Nat some time in the field, and later Ben moved up front and Ebo came in to play keeper. Neither Ben or Ebo were seriously threatened in the 2nd half. At about the 15 minute mark, after another foul by ASC Milan, Skylar sent a free kick from about 30 yards out on the left and into the box about 6-8 yards where Nat collected the ball, turned and fired in a hard shot into right side of the net past the keeper. Five minutes later, on another offensive attack, Tomiwa made a nice through-pass upfield and Nat collected the ball, broke through the last two defenders and dribbled towards the goal on a 1v1 with the keeper. Nat juked the keeper and sent in an easy shot into the net for the 4th goal. With about 1 minute left in the match, ASC player #2 inexplicably grabbed Skylar and flung him to the turf. The player was clearly frustrated and was fortunate in that only a yellow card was shown and not a red card/ejection. End of match, 4-0, Inter.

01 Oct. '05. Once again for the 5th time this season, Inter played out at Muldoon's Farm, and this time it was an inter-BSC match against the hard-working and determined Bethesda Ajax. The weather was great but Inter did not play great as it appeared to have awoken on the wrong side of the bed in the first half. Inter's game form was completely off and the Ajax took charge and played in Inter's half of the field often, but could manage just 3 shots on goal and were easily stopped by Nat. The Ajax also created 1 corner kick opportunity to no avail, and committed 7 fouls. Although uncharacteristically lethargic, Inter was able to muster up 4 shots on goal with 2 CK's and 4 fouls, but neither team could finish a goal in the 1st half. After coach Pete caught their attention during the half-time, Inter started the 2nd half as if a large bucket of cold water had been thrown in their faces and played more determinedly with a sense of urgency, coming to the ball sooner, and possessing the ball and controlling play the entire second half, shooting 7 times on goal with 1 CK and 1 offsides foul. The defense played strong and did not allow the Ajax to pull the trigger, although the Ajax played much more physically, committing 10 fouls, one of which occurred at about the 30 minute mark with a slide tackle on Skylar, knocking him down and his right leg in pain. Although Skylar was able to shake off the injury, he was unable to take the free kick. So, Vitalis stepped up and fired a left-footed bomb from about 30+ yards out to the left into the box around 4-5 yards where Ben attempted to strike in a header but it bounched upward and outward and an alert Nicholas banged in a header into the net past the surprised keeper. The matched ended several minutes, 1-nil, Inter.

25 Sep. '05. On another overcast day, Inter travelled out to Valley View Park in Bristow/Manassas,VA, to play the talented MATT Crew who always play highly competitive soccer against Inter. As was the case yesterday against MSC United, at the blow of the whistle to start the match, MATT Crew kicked off and possessed/controlled the ball very well, moving into and playing in Inter's half for much of the 1st half. MATT Crew took (6) shots on goal and Ben stopped (2) hard shots on the goal line. MATT Crew also created 1 corner kick opportunity which was unsuccessful, and committed 6 fouls. Inter committed 7 fouls and Chris received another YC for for tripping -- inadvertent stumble -- a MATT Crew player from behind. But, Inter pretty much controlled the remainder of the 1st half, and, it also took (6) shots on goal, a couple which were wide or weak and easily stopped by their excellent keeper. At about the 9 minute mark, Inter's defense (Nicky?) cleared a long ball up field to about 40 yards out where a MATT Crew defender attempted to head the ball away forward, but it caromed backwards towards MATT Crew's goal area where Roque was racing forward and was able to put his head on the ball to bump it further forward to a streaking Vitalis who collected the ball, dribbled a few yards and slammed in Inter's 1st goal. The 2nd half presented the sidelines with a spectacular bombardment of shots on goal by both teams, with MATT Crew sending (8) shots and Inter shooting (6) times, three of which were converted into great goals. At about the 4-5 minute mark, Sam received a pass on the left near mid-field and dribbled up field to about 18-20 yards and sent a superb pass in towards the left side of the goal to Vitalis who collected the ball, dribbled further into the left side of the goal near the end line and as the GK came out to challenge, made a beautiful left-footed 90 degree pass to the right of goal to a charging Roque who closed on the ball and sent in an easy shot into the net for Inter's 2nd goal. After a foul by MATT Crew at about the 16 minute mark, Skylar sent a nicely placed DK into the center of the goal box where Ben made a beautiful diving header shot into the net past the surprised MATT Crew GK -- who made a couple of outstanding saves in the 2nd half, coming out to challenge/stop a strong shot by Nicholas about 8 yards out from goal, and another teriffic save on a hard shot by Vitalis. Then, at about the 31 minute mark, Inter countered a MATT Crew attack and moved the ball into MATT Crew's half to about 25 yards out to the right where Nicholas lofted a nice ball over the defenders into the goal area about 12 yards out to Vitalis who collected the ball, dribbled a few yards and then fired a hard shot into the net past the GK. Credit MATT Crew for playing hard to the end of the match, and with about 2 minutes left, MATT Crew sent a great through ball up field between Inter defenders on the right. Nat had no choice but to come out to try to kick/clear the ball away at about 20-22 yards out but the kick was unfortunately deflected off a MATT Crew forward and the ball rolled forward towards the mid-center line about 40 yards out where another MATT Crew player was in perfect position and alertly kicked a very nice hard, long shot high in the air past Nat and past Philip -- who raced back to defend the goal line -- and into the upper net. Nat also made some great saves on a couple of very hard shots taken by MATT Crew.