On a wind blown day, with gusts up to 40 miles per hour, North and the Prep hooked up for a Red Division match up.  The game was played at the Prep’s home field, the Dairy Fields in Fairmount Park.  To give you an idea of the quality of these fields, they are one step below Torresdale and Afghanistan, our home field where we have not played a home game in over two years. Yesterday’s result however had nothing to do with the field; it had everything to do with two mistakes.

Battling against the wind in the first half, North looked comfortable as play was nearly 50/50.  In the 20^th minute, a corner by Pablo Martinez was met by Jr. Dan Venuto who headed it down and to the right corner of the goal.  The Prep keeper went horizontal and kept the game scoreless. A minute of so later, on the same side, Martinez again delivered a decisive ball that was knocked over the bar.

In the 30^th minute, North got caught napping at the backline.  For some reason, it moved forward as the ball was going east to west and allowed the Prep forward to split the middle backs. McCarthy came sprinting off his line as the Prepster took a shot from 18. McCarthy was able to get a piece of the ball as it rattled off the post but deflected into the box and laid at the 6 yard line.  Our attempt to clear however was poor and directly at a Prep forward, 25 out.  He cut inside and pounded a low shot into the far corner past a diving McCarthy.  The rest of the half was uneventful and both teams went to the locker room with Prep ahead 1-0.

In the second half, the wind tunnel was at North’s back and being down a goal there was only one option, attack and attack they did.  North pushed the pedal to the metal and began suffocating the Prep defense and penalty area.  In the 50^th minute, Venuto’s shot banged off the post.  In the 20^th, Hall was sent in alone by Martinez only to have the keeper make a real good save.  Five corner kicks in a row in the span of 5 minutes resulted in two shots that the Prep backline absorbed.  In the 65^th minute, Hall again alone going at goal from another Martinez pass had his legs taken out by the keeper who made no contact with the ball.  For some reason the ref swallowed his whistle. In the 60^th minute, a punt by the Prep keeper was misjudged by a North defender and it bounced over his head onto a rushing Prep forward.  He was able to beat an on rushing McCarthy to increase Prep’s lead by 2 goals.

 In the 70^th minute, Martinez crossed a ball 5 yards from the goal line out by the flag that was deflected by a Prep defender and the ref again swallowed his whistle and advised “play on.”  Off a corner kick in the 75^th minute, Hall got a foot on a ball at the six that tipped the cross bar and went over.  In the 78^th minute, a driven ball by a North midfielder has headed directly towards a defender’s head when his hand came up to protect his face, once again no call. Seemed to be the story of the day.  The Prep played well and defended amazingly well under heavy pressure and Mother Nature.  This loss tightens up the Red Division as LaSalle lost to Judge and Ryan won at Bonner.

Next up is a big game vs. O’Hara on Friday at 5:30 at Lighthouse.  O’Hara defeated Roman yesterday by the score of 4-1.