Thanks, Katie@! and Flickr Creative Commons
With General-Manager-Coach-Director-of-Public-Relations-Starting-Centre-Defenseman Kurt Heinrich away at an undisclosed honeymoon location, an under-staffed Octopi Vancouver squad called in some favours and called up some enthusiastic talent from the team’s junior league squad, The Soccer Balls. Thanks to Blaine, Chris, Beau, Jess, and Andrea for your stellar contributions – and sorry for any name-related spelling mistakes…
It was a mild and dewy Wednesday night under the lights of UBC’s Thunderbird stadium. And we played some soccer. Against another team. They were called “Totti Hots Purr” and there is a good chance that they cheated en route to a 1-1 draw against an Octopi squad that, in addition to enduring probable cheating, struggled to control play in the middle of the field and failed to capitalize on some really good scoring opportunities.
Expertly backstopped by All Star goaltender David Willinsky, Octopi dominated the first half. Soccer Generalist and Everyman, Brenton Walters, worked the middle of the field and the sidelines with new recruits Jess and Andrea to near perfection – only a few misstrikes (it’s a word), an off-the-post-header, and, as I mentioned before, probable cheating the their opponents, saw Octopi race through the first 10 minutes without notching at least two goals.
And then John Horn – following a great header from New Guy Chris (who, incidentally, refused to sport a bright pink Octopi kit … no judgment …) and a great attacking run in the third person – ping-ponged the ball past two defenders and half-a-goalie before cracking it into the back of a half-empty-net. Things looked good for Octopi.
Now back to the cheating. Look, all I’m saying is that, from the sidelines, it looked as though the Totti Hots Purr player – after being pushed to the turf by our team during an intense goal-mouth scramble – hand-passed the ball to a teammate who kicked it into an empty net. Like I said. Cheating.
In the second half, Octopi sat back and played a little too much of a dump-and-chase game, which resulted in the other team #winning a lot of the midfield play. There was really only one chance in the second half and it was for Totti Hots Purr, but League MVP David Willinsky splayed his body across the goal and robbed the THP sniper of what he – and his misplaced track-pants – thought was a sure goal.
Looking forward, Octopi hopes to continue gelling with a skilled team nucleus that has yet to play together this season. And when it does, look out Urban Rec. This is a team that has as much talent as it does chemistry as it does a dumb name with hilariously awesome pink uniforms.