Ryle 2 Highlands 0 (9th Region Semi-Final)

[kyag]

As I was watching the teams warm up I thought to myself Highlands looks locked in and ready.  With the comeback win Tuesday vs Cov Cath you could see they felt confident in their chance to knock off the reigning regional champs, Ryle Raiders.  

The game started as both teams looked to build out the back and control the ball.  Ryle tested the back line of Highlands a couple of times, but nothing really came from it.  I've seen Ryle play too many times this year and I've noted they consistently do this...Denigan starts on the right side to begin the game but about 10 minutes he'll move to the left side.  This game was no different.  Hoenderkamp received the ball in the middle of the field, drew a lot of attention, passed the ball to the left side and there was Denigan to finish...Ryle 1 Highlands 0.  Ryle had a few more chances after that, the best with Hoenderkamp weaving his way through the defense taking the shot and Wilson making a fantastic stop.  Highlands seemed to be playing the long ball and couldn't get it past the back line of Ryle.  I thought when Highlands worked the ball through the midfield and moved the ball to the outside they had success.

Second half saw Ryle continue to press Highlands and have a few more chances at goal again.  The game started to get a little chippy as Denigan was fouled (according to the Ryle parents) but the ref said play on.  Frustration started to build with the ref talking to both sides.  It was almost comical that as the ref was talking to players off dead ball foul calls play would resume and he wasn't even watching the play as he was talking to the players.  This happened a few times.  Denigan was subbed out (he was on the left side when this occurred).  A few minutes later Denigan is subbed back in and is now on the right side, Ryle works the ball up, Denigan gets past the left back starts to attack, Highlands remaining defenders close in on Denigan, Denigan passed the ball in front of the goal where I believe Smajlovic is waiting with no one around him for the easy shot on goal...Ryle 2 Highlands 0.  Highlands would move some players around, but it was almost too late at this point as Ryle slowed the game down and ensured any balls being kicked out of bounds made it the baseball field behind the stands.  

I was a little surprised Highlands didn't generate more opportunities at goal, but Ryle's defense seems to be very solid and then you add Barth in goal makes it very hard for the opponents to score.

 

[FrankNicodemus]

@kyag great recap.  I thought it was a great game.  Exactly what I expected.  Very impressed with Brice and Diego's skill set.  Could do without a lot of flopping but luckily the ref wasn't having much of it which was great to see he wasn't suckered in to most of those.

Unlike the game against Cov Cath the Birds just didn't get the bounces they would need to knock off a giant like Ryle.  They had a handful of nice crosses where either Gesenhues or Gamble were flying in towards the goal, with proper body or head placement on those crosses we could have had a much different exciting game.  Unfortunately for the birds those chances went high or wide.

Also, got to give huge props to L Barth.  He is a BEAST back there!!!  Not going to miss having to try to get anything past him LOL.

Great season for the Birds.  

Good luck to the Ryle Raiders!