Goose: “What are you doing?”
Maverick: “Just wondering, ‘who’s the best?'”
-Top Gun
After dispatching NB last week, there is no doubt as to the answer. The game against NE got off to a flying start, when Joe ‘low hanging fruit’ Titlow struck a screamer into the bottom corner. This was followed by low exocet from Chris ‘Gazza’ Withers to double the NA lead. But NE recovered, which concerned first time goalie, Andrew ‘Iceman’ Wexler.
Some in the crowd swore they heard him shout, “Maverick, Maverick, I’ve got bogies all over me” as he was rushed by the NE journeymen, but he stayed sub-zero to pull off some fine saves. Su-Lin ‘Too str’ Ong saved the team with some great tackles, and played the ball intelligently out of the back third.
With time running out in the first half, TJ ‘Calyx &’ Carella opened his legs and showed his class. He threw the opposition into a flat spin and fired off another net-seeking missile to make the score 3-2. In the second half, Rolando ‘Goose’ Lozano and Shuhrat ‘Stinger’ Kuziev provided overhead cover to shore up the game, combining well with Brian ‘Paddy’ O’Connor and Kevin ‘Maverick’ Mantsch as the whole team zeroed in on the main NE dangers. Rounding off the near-flawless performance, the defensive cover of Paul ‘Business Pimp’ Boruta showed he can perform with his feet as well as his hands, while no-one wanted to go near Roy ‘I’m wearing steel toe-caps and will use them’ Kim.
The main highlights of the second period were two wonder strikes from Alex ‘Eh-eh’ Alvarez and one from Titlow after he put on the after-burners to outpace the defense. In the Spangler debrief, the fighting Irish of NJ were talking a good game. Are they writing checks their skills can’t cash? We’ll see…
