The lads and lass of Old Growth FC finally reached the end of their inaugural season on July 8 when they played Sellwood Moreland UTD. The original date of this fixture was slated for back in mid April, but was moved as part of the whole Delta Park field configuration issues that caused many issues around fixtures. The list of OGFC players unavailable was daunting, but the 16 players putting on the green were going to give it their best.
After some worrisome moments when fill in manager Kip Kesgard was delayed getting to the pitch with the lineup sheet because of the Marine Drive closure, the sheet was in the official’s hand with just under 12 minutes to spare as both teams warmed up at Delta Park’s only artificial surface, Strasser Field. As the sun burned down on the turf, it was fortunate the start time was 10 AM as the conditions weren’t as bad as they were expected to get later in the day.
OGFC started out rather tentatively, as some players were filling roles they’d not played much in, so Sellwood Moreland spent plenty of time attacking. However, the OGFC defense, or more specifically goalkeeper Rex Forkner, kept them off the board early. Forkner was calm in handling a few shots from distance and moved off his line to thwart a few runs, but after the early barrage, the OGFC defense was starting to settle down.
About 20 minutes into the match, Eric “Destroyer” Berg came in for a role in center midfield, and the OGFC co-manager started hovering around the ball quite a bit. On a turnover in the center of the pitch, Berg stuck with the play and created a turnover, which he punched forward to an attacking teammate, Lane Scheideman. Scheideman showed incredible patience to bring the ball under control and after a few moments of control, he slotted the ball past the Sellwood Moreland goalkeeper to put OGFC up 1 to 0. Yes, folks, it was in the tenth match of the year, but OGFC had finally taken a lead in one of their matches. The group of players celebrated with some quick moments of encouragement from Coach Rustam Kocher until we realized that Sellwood Moreland had kicked off the ball while the congregation was still going. Thankfully, the threat was stopped, but there was confidence in the OGFC side.
The back and forth play continued until about the 33rd minute when Sellwood Moreland finally got on the scoreboard with a nifty misdirection. About three minutes later, they got a second goal and around the 40 th minute, a third was put in from a wicked angle. The OGFC team was getting a little tired, but at the same point, they were fighting for space and marking incredibly well. Unlike previous matches where goals were being scored rather easily on them, OGFC was making other teams really work for their goals showing how much this team has improved from its early days.
After the break and some much needed water and encouragement, the two teams resumed the match. Early pressure caused some confusion in the back for the OGFC defense, and a breakdown led to a fourth goal given up. At around the 55th minute, Kesgard fell victim to an accidental elbow in the box as he crumpled to the turf under a sea of obscenities directed at nobody in particular. The Sellwood
Moreland UTD player didn’t mean to get his elbow up high and the official was clearly screened, but that didn’t matter much as a few non PG-13 words were flying from the turf. The situation wasn’t nearly as bad as manager Todd Diskin’s broken nose, as Kesgard was able to return to the match moments later after cooling off, getting some water and checking for any damage.
Goals 5 and 6 came around the 80th minute as the conditions were getting extremely warm on the turf. However, there was some great late match work from two members of OGFC that have spent time on the injured list, Thomas Augst and Paul Atkinson. Augst had strained his ankle earlier in the year, but was able to play a short time in their June 30th match while Atkinson went on the shelf early in the season with a severe ankle sprain. Both players provided some great efforts even if their fitness wasn’t up to where they would have liked. While Sellwood Moreland UTD got a seventh around the 84th minute, there was some late match pressure against their goal that could have led to a few OGFC goals. The folks in green didn’t give up at all, and kept playing through the final whistle.
As we collected to the bench, there were plenty of cheers and smiles as the team completed their first season. Forkner was outstanding in this match, as the score probably would have been worse without him, while the entire team could take solace in playing a very competitive match without some of our key players. It was also great to see the celebration after Scheideman’s goal, as some of the newer players to the game get a chance to celebrate a great accomplishment. As the folks headed off to their separate destinations, it was plain to see that while the results weren’t always pretty, OGFC became more than just a bunch of guys and gals kicking a ball about, they’d become a team. With more experience and training, they should become a force to deal with as they’ve already got the kickbutt uniforms.
Final Score: OGFC 1, Sellwood Moreland UTD 7
Goals: Lane Scheideman
Assists: Eric Berg
Cautions: None
Ejections: None
OGFC Starters: G Rex Forkner; D Kip Kesgard, D Jamey Billig, D Dave Petterson, D Lee Tyler; M Rich Recker, M Huck Bales, M Thomas Augst, M Lane Scheideman; F Jonathan Drews, F Eric Kilgore
OGFC Reserves: Nikki Suydam, Eric Berg, Rustam Kocher, Paul Atkinson, Sean Moran
OGFC Injured List: Fred Henning (back, TBD), Juan Paredes (knee, TBD), Steve Kuenzi (ankle, TBD)
OGFC Unavailable: Steve Holmes, Brad Ashton, Eric Maurice, Jeremy Chase, Josh Barrett, Todd Diskin, Sean Pope, Rich Meneghello, and Rich Sheals
Goals in GPSD Spring 2012 (5): Brad Ashton (1), Rich Recker (1), Sean Moran
(1), Sean Pope (1), Lane Scheideman (1)
Assists in GPSD Spring 2012 (2): Todd Diskin (1), Eric Berg (1)
