Bethesda Internationals

23 Apr. '05. At the nice OBGC Freeman fields with forecasted rainshowers/T-storms held at bay, Inter faced the little known HSA Fire (Harford) who play in the Delco D2E. The feisty Fire out-hustled Inter in the first half and were mostly quicker to the ball. Although Inter managed more shots on goal (6) compared to the Fire's 3 SOG's and created 4 corner kicks to none for the Fire with both teams committing 5-6 fouls each, at about the 8 minute mark the Fire countered an Inter attack by sending a long ball over mid-field where an ineffective attempt to clear it away only deflected the ball to a fast running Fire player (18) who collected the ball and ran straight towards Inter's goal where he fired a hard shot straight at Ben (who started at GK in place of Nat who started up front) from about 20 yards out into the net as it found space through Ben's legs during an attempt to kick it away. Inter stepped up its game in the 2nd half, taking 5 SOG's with 1 CK and 7 fouls, while the Fire managed 3 SOG's and 2 CK's with 3 fouls. At about the 5 minute mark, Mati received a pass on the left and streaked up field to the far left corner where he crossed a beautiful shot into the goal mouth to a waiting Roque who struck in the equalizer goal. Later, at about the 17 minute mark, Sam received a pass to the left and similarly raced up field to the far left corner and made a great cross into the goal mouth again to a waiting Roque who slammed in the go-ahead goal from about 6-8 yards out. The match ended, 2-1, in favor of Inter who will play the in quarter-final/Round 3 match on 7 May against winner of Round 2 match between Bethesda Ajax and Baltimore BAYS 92.

17 Apr. '05. Another fantastic sunny day for soccer, but after unsuccessfully petitioning NCSL in advance to reschedule its game with Inter today due to participation in the prestious PDA Larson Spring Kickoff in NJ, SAC United Premier forfeited the match to Inter. Hopefully, Inter will be able to scrimmage this up-and-coming strong new team to D1 sometime later in the season at the very nice Covenant Park complex in Ellicott City.

16 Apr. '05. On another splendid sun-filled day out at Muldoon's farm but with frost on the field for the 8AM start, Inter faced the talented Freestate Titans who have become Inter's rival in the past several encounters, with the Titans prevailing at the BSC Thanksgiving 2004 semi-final, 0-0, but moved on to the final on tie-breaker rule with greater number of corner kicks, while Inter prevailed in the fall 2004 league play, 1-0, and tied in spring 2004 play, 1-1. This match was no different than the others with both teams attacking and counter-attacking up and down the field. The first half was evenly played with each team taking 2 shots on goal with 2 corners for the Titans to none for Inter and a couple of fouls each. In the 2nd half, Inter managed to setup several scoring situations but the Titans' staunch defenders limited Inter to just 1 hard shot on goal and 2 corners with 2 fouls, while the Titans managed to fire 4 shots on goal with 2 corners and 5 fouls. At about the 26 minute mark, the Titans sent a ball into the left goal mouth area and several unsuccessful attempts were made to clear it out. Unfortunately, a final attempt to kick the ball away resulted in the ball spinning backwards and bounced past a diving Nat towards the right corner of the goal where Skylar layed out and kicked the ball away just as it rolled on/over the goal line and a Titans player punched it back in for good measure for the game-winning goal. Congratulations to the Titans for a well-deserved win and for an entertaining match between these two excellent teams.

10 Apr. '05. In the 1st game of the spring 2005 season, on a fabulous sun-filled day at Holmes MS in Annandale, VA, Inter faced its old friends and feisty foe from D2, ABGC Red Devils. Like the last game played between these two teams several seasons back, this one was very similar with both teams attacking and countering with strong play. Inter dominated the 1st half with good ball control and movement on the clumpy and uneven field, but could not finish, shooting 3 times on goal with 2 corners and 3 fouls, while the Devils shot just once with no corners and 3 fouls. Late in the 1st half at about the 28 minute mark, the Devils managed to break through Inter's back line and scooped in a shot past a diving Nat -- but luckily for Inter, a Devil player was whistled for offsides and the goal was nullified. In the 2nd half, the Devils stepped up their play and held off Inter for most of the 2nd half. The Devils managed 3 SOG's with 2 CK's and 4 fouls while Inter shot 3 times to the net with 2 CK's and 3 fouls. After a foul by the Devils at about the 27 minute mark, Skylar launched a DK towards the left side of the goal mouth from about 25+ yards out to the right, and Nicky perfectly timed his jump to head in the game-winning goal, 1-0.

28 Mar. '05. Inter Bethesda has been accepted into the prestigious Potomac Memorial 2005 tournament, where it advanced to the championship match last year against the talented RFC '91 team from the VCCL (previously NCSL), but fell 0-1 in a hard fought match. This year's event has attracted many teams from out-of-state (11) with just (2) teams from VA and (3) teams from MD: American Soccer Club American Jets 92 Blue (AL) Lynbrook/East Rockaway MAGIC (NY-E) Team America 91 Red (VA) West Hartford Premier Soccer Club West Hartford Premier U13 (CT) Jersey Knights Fire (NJ) Cobb FC 92 Chiefs Gold (GA) Reston FC RFC '91 (VA) Samba TTP (CT) Commack Warriors (NY-E) Potomac SA Cougars '92 (MD) Bethesda SC Inter Bethesda (MD) Beachside SC Beachside U-13 (CT) Potomac Plague (MD) Albertson SC 91 Academy (NY-E) Western YMCA Mutiny (DE) FC Westchester 92 Boys (NY-E)