Cleveland vs. Western Mass Post Game Reaction

I originally wasn't going to write this tonight, but I got some motivation. This was a must win game. We needed the three points badly. We'd only scored one goal in our past three league games. So when the Pioneers went up in the 1st minute, I was very much afraid that this would be our first regular season home loss. We dominated in the first half, but their keeper came up with some huge saves. The one in the 40th minute off of a great shot from Ian was superb.

In the second half, we came out with a purpose. We played like a team in desperate need of a win. When Ryan Stewart came on, the entire game changed. Stewart said "I'm going to take charge of this game. Everyone, pile on my back, I'm gonna take us to the promised land!" At least, that's what I imagine him saying. Whatev. When he came on, the dynamic of the game changed. We were much more positive. His beautiful backheel to Mark was the reason for the PK. I also loved that after he scored the third goal of the game (and his first of the season) he ran over to the fans and celebrated. Oh, yea, and Derek's goal, the game winning goal, was nice.

All in all, we deserved this win. I'm not even going to touch on the physical aspect of this game because it would simply disgust me. Put simply, Western Mass' players are a bunch of thugs.

My Man of the Match: Ryan Stewart

7/4/08 Cleveland vs. Western Mass Preview

USL Second Division
Kick-off: 3:00 pm
Krenzler Field, Cleveland, OH

Yet again, three points are an absolute must. We're currently only 1 point ahead of Crystal Palace Baltimore in the race for the top two spots. However, we've played two more games than them. This season we're 3-0-3 at home and Western Mass are 2-3-1 on the road. The Pioneers have gotten 7 or so yellow cards in their past 3 matches. I doubt they'll stop the physical play against us. So many times this season, the away team has come to Krenzler looking only for the draw. They sit almost everyone behind the ball and hack away at our players. Unfortunately, we haven't always tried hard to break the opponents down. We've just settled to lob long balls into the box and hope Sallieu or any of the forwards can get a head to it. We need to start shooting more. Against Wilmington we had the majority of the possession and did nothing with it. Baltimore is going to be on a long stretch of games. From now until the end of the season, I think the most time they have in between games is 4 days. They will definitely drop some points during that span. Now it's our time to start winning games and put some pressure on Charlotte at the top of the table.