October 25, 2009 - Springfield, PA

October 25th saw the Kixx, fresh off the heels of a victory against Tredyffrin, visiting a Springfield team that had yet to win a game yet this season. The Springfield field was tucked behind a row of stores, and Mike Battisti, Daniel Good, and Joey D'Angelo were all early arrivals. Mike and I spotted a red-tailed hawk sitting on one of the goals - perhaps a good omen in advance of the game?

Coach John wisely chose to have the boys wear white on the muddiest field of the season, and by the time the game started most of the kids' uniforms were closer to brown, but no one save the parents in charge of laundry seemed to mind. With the late scratch of Mike Caggiano due to injury, the Kixx once again had just a few substitutes.

The teams kicked off at 10:30, and from beginning to end the Kixx dominated the Springfield team (also called the Kixx). Dalton Musselman opened the scoring early in the first half, but many goals were to follow, as the Kixx ran to a 7-0 victory. There's not much point in calling out too many of the gory details, but it was a great game for the Kixx from start to finish. Two points, in particular, were very obvious to the coaches.

1. This was the Kixx' best passing game of the year. The midfielders in particular consistently looked up and pushed the ball ahead to the forwards, and the result was break after break. The Springfield team just had no answer for the way our kids moved the ball.
2. Our boys really took advantage of positioning themselves as we've taught them. At least two of the goals were explicitly because of this. The first came early in the first half, when a Michael Bolger cross from the left corner bounced right through the middle. Joey D'Angelo was camped out on the far side of the goal - just as we've always said the far wing should be - and he knocked it home for the goal. The second came in the second half, when Charlie Beale did the same off of a Dalton Musselman corner kick. When our boys get themselves into the right position, they're getting much better at making the other team pay!

Max Gress also scored a gorgeous goal late in the second half, drilling a high shot across his body into the left corner, and Mike Bolger and Tristan Hummel very nearly tag-teamed a ball into the net.

After the game, Lionville received some especially welcome news - the 1st place West-Mont team had a tough weekend, drawing against Marple Newtown and losing to Radnor, catapulting the Kixx into first place with a 6-0-1 record and 19 points with 2 games to play in the regular season. The Kixx are guaranteed to finish no lower than 3rd out of 10 teams in their inaugural season! Next weekend comes the showdown with West-Mont that will in all likelihood determine who finishes in 1st place.