Going into the match, the clubs were tied for second place with two others teams with eight points. While Tire came off nice 5-0 win vs. Disorderly Conduct on June 27, Dark Hadou was looking to put just one in against top squad Soccer Team FC in a 2-0 loss.

Teams had three weeks off to observe the Fourth of July holiday and give way to GSSL’s tending to opening rounds of the 2008 International Cup Tournament at Starfire.

That didn’t mean anyone forgot about Dark Hadou keeper Jake Kennedy’s division leading three summer shutout wins. Upon stopping at least six sure goals that lesser keepers would have allowed, the 6’6” netminder would later offer, “You can’t teach height.”

Shots on goal is certainly what Tire had on this day, at maybe a 3:1 ratio to Dark Hadou’s. Except for the first 20 minutes or so, Tire controlled the majority of possession. Turnovers making that extra non-simple pass would prove costly, but the Tire defense responded in kind by earning its share of timely takeaways, clears and blocks in passing lanes.

A solid four-man defensive line kept Kennedy company and prevented many shots in the box. Maybe it was three weeks of rust build-up, but early on Tire players seemed a bit too generous with passing in the Hadou box and passed up decent looks on goal.

Nice looks came off the foot of Casey Antoncich and Scott Strasser; the real good chances came when forward Mike Gill-More went one-on-one with the keeper and an extra touch was too much; he also had another breakaway chance that a defender disrupted with a slide tackle to force a slow roller to the keeper. And a pass from Gill-More to an open midfielder Tim Farley, back after 14 games away with injury, was perfect—but the shot, a toe-pod punch straight into the keeper’s arms, left much to be desired.

Dark Hadou had a few chances of its own, including a close-range blast in the box that sailed over the crossbar and a rocketed rip that keeper Michael Leone collected very well. The teams went to the break scoreless.

The ensuing second half was much of the same—but Tire’s pressure finally paid off in minute 61 when a central Mike Gill-More spotted an open Kelly Antoncich running up the right sideline. With a touch around the defender, Antoncich cracked a low blast inside the box that just got under the Hadou keeper diving for it on the six-yard box line. The goal was Antoncich’s first since Nov. 17, 2007 and 11th all-time.

Tire had a few more chances to add to the tally that involved Farley and Gill-More, but two direct kick lofts in the box were unsuccessful (one off the crossbar) and an untimely offsides break in the Hadou box prevented potential scores. A soft touch proved too soft when Gill-More got around the keeper mere feet from the line and a defender swept in to clear the slow bouncer away.

And then minute 76 came. Until this time, after around 350 straight minutes without a goal, DHFC finally put one when a triangle passing effort inside the Tire box led to an aggressive shot in a crowded box from five feet away. Defender Jim Stern was close but not directly in front of the shooter, and though they banged cleats to leave Stern’s “buzzing,” the close-range shot was met only by the foot of keeper Michael Leone as it continued in.

Play continued end-to-end for the final moments of the game but neither team could break the one-all stalemate, and that’s how it ended.

All-time in the GSSL, DHFC is now 11-14-8. Last session, DHFC went 1-4-2 in division 3A with seven goals for and 16 against, good for second-to-last place in the eight-team division. DHFC won the division 4 title 2-1 over Salty Dogs in the winter 2008 championship game.

“We reverted to our old ways,” thought forward/midfielder Scot Rogers. “We couldn’t finish. Which obviously was a result of me not playing up top. We had ’em beat—we just couldn’t finish. That’s the story.”

“They gave us and we made a lot of opportunities,” said Casey Antoncich, “but we just couldn’t convert. It’s kinda frustrating. We should have had control of the ball the entire game.”

“I felt like we pretty much dominated,” said defender Bracey Rogers. “They actually had a couple of good breaks but the [one of a few] they had they made count. Don’t know what else to say.”

“We had lots of chances but just couldn’t finish,” said Mike Gill-More. “They were good guys to play, but we should have had at least one more goal, especially the one Tim had in the first half where all he had to do was righty it. But such is life.”

“It was a good game,” keeper Leone said. “The team didn’t capitalize on a few things but I thought we were the better team. But I missed one.”

“Felt a little tired out there today,” Strasser admitted. “It’s been a couple weeks and you can tell. Didn’t feel on it today. Seemed kind of groggy today—you can tell we’ve had some time off. I mean, we had some good plays, some good crosses, some good chances, but we weren’t up to where we were right before the break.”

“We looked like a team that hadn’t played together in three weeks,” said defender Leo Berk. “Our passes—they were all just a little bit off, especially for the first 60 minutes or so. After their goal, we looked like the team that didn’t have subs. They started hustlin’.”

“We played fairly well, you know?” thought Stern. “Definitely took us a while to get back into the game, but the one thing we did well was pass—we’ve been getting better this whole season. But we need to spread the field out more.”

“That was a very winable game,” defender Don Gill-More said. “The defense was great today, if I don’t mind saying. We just didn’t finish. I hate to use ‘rust’ as an excuse, man—we’re not little kids—we know how to shoot and you either got the touch today or you don’t. It is what it is, it’s a continual problem, and we’ll continue to work on finishing.”

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