Crescentwood Finish Second in 5th Division
Crescentwood Saturday Soccer Club squeezed through for a second place finish this indoor season, with a winter campaign that carried strong similarities to our summer efforts.
Veni Vidi Vici FC came first with a convincing 33 points and goal-differential of 36, while Crescentwood finished in second place with 29 points, a mere one point advantage over the Purple Cobras.
This will invariably leave a venomous taste in the Cobras’ mouths, because they inflicted a deep wound to Crescentwood in a painful 5-0 January loss, and subsequently wrapped themselves around Crescentwood’s neck in the subsequent 5-1 lackluster performance in February.
Crescentwood finished with a goal-differential of 10 relative to the Cobras’ 26, scoring 10 more goals than Saturday and letting in 8 fewer. Even the mighty Cobras could not slither their way to second.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the indoor season mirrors our outdoor season in one key area: goals.
Just like the outdoor season, four of our top six goal-scorers are under 20 or thereabouts, with the Doerksen brothers, Kamal, and Jude topping the Crescentwood goal chart this winter alongside veterans Ian Hudson and call-up Kevin Dick.
We netted 37 goals this indoor season, which was slightly above the league average (32). We also had a better goals against finish (27) than the league average (32). Mac invariably contributed to these figures with a fantastic performance in goal. That said, the bottom teams skew these results pretty heavily (I do not envy Chexx FC’s -34 goal differential).
This performance makes sense given who we were up against this indoor season. Of the eight teams in our indoor league, only one was formed by players from a Division above our summer Division: Purple Cobras FC.
We played in Division 6 during the summer, and Polonia was the only other Division 6 team that played in our indoor league.
Three of the remaining six indoor teams were drawn from below us in Division 7 (Azzurri and the ascendant Veni Vidi Vici FC) and Division 8 (poor Chexx FC), while another two teams only play indoors together (Black Flag FC and the fittingly named Relegation City FC).
Only Purple Cobras FC played above us last summer, with their top scorers drawn from a hodgepodge of Division 2, Division 5, and Division 6 teams.
In this respect, it’s fair to say that we finished where we deserved to. New summer additions to the team and returning stalwarts provide a strong and agile midfield, with some compelling finishing from strikers and attacking midfielders. The increased half-field space allowed for some great team-play and passing this indoor season and we looked smart, generally.
This indoor result should be particularly sweet for us because we came in third this past summer after Polonia. Things were different this winter. We destroyed them thoroughly, twice. Keep the red flag flying, Crescentwood!
What does the future have in store for the club? In football league tables, the only sensible direction to look is up.
Veni Vidi Vici FC and Purple Cobras FC both scored more goals than us and let fewer in. They point in a direction we can aim for as a team.
Due to our unusual position near the top of the table, CSSC received a bye straight into the semi final where they met a well fed Polonia side who posted a massive upset in the quarters by dumping Purple Cobras out of the post season. CSSC handled Polonia easily during regular season play, but were without three wise heads because the two Hudsons and Woolford took off during "reading" week. The squad was further weakened by Van Penners sleepless, binge through Ontario in the days before the big game. In the end Polonia again upset the form book dumping CSSC out 2-1 in an ill tempered affair. They got their first on a free kick over a slow to form CSSC wall. The second was an absolute scorcher two feet off the ground and right in the corner. Dorbolo deflected one in late on to provide some hope but it was not to be. In a microcosm of the whole game, the last kick saw CSSC shiny new match ball nestle high in the lights and fail to return.
Some consolation was earned the following week, with a 1-0 victory in the bronze medal game, with Van Penner scrambling in the ugliest winning goal ever and Bob Walden shutting the door in goal. If the Canadian women's team can parade their third place finish around like they won something, so can CSSC.
Crescentwood certainly has the players to make a compelling show, but we need more confidence in our finish. Perhaps more shooting practice is in order? And on defence, a similar air of confidence is needed – a tenacity to close on the ball quickly in our end and give the opposition no breathing room. Too many goals are conceded by giving the attacking team too much space or time.
All-in-all, this was a great Crescentwood indoor season. We enjoyed some laughs, pints, and plenty of great football. There’s lots to look forward to this summer season. The club has a solid foundation and ample new talent. Come on Crescentwood!
Crescentwood Saturday Soccer Club squeezed through for a second place finish this indoor season, with a winter campaign that carried strong similarities to our summer efforts.
Veni Vidi Vici FC came first with a convincing 33 points and goal-differential of 36, while Crescentwood finished in second place with 29 points, a mere one point advantage over the Purple Cobras.
This will invariably leave a venomous taste in the Cobras’ mouths, because they inflicted a deep wound to Crescentwood in a painful 5-0 January loss, and subsequently wrapped themselves around Crescentwood’s neck in the subsequent 5-1 lackluster performance in February.
Crescentwood finished with a goal-differential of 10 relative to the Cobras’ 26, scoring 10 more goals than Saturday and letting in 8 fewer. Even the mighty Cobras could not slither their way to second.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the indoor season mirrors our outdoor season in one key area: goals.
Just like the outdoor season, four of our top six goal-scorers are under 20 or thereabouts, with the Doerksen brothers, Kamal, and Jude topping the Crescentwood goal chart this winter alongside veterans Ian Hudson and call-up Kevin Dick.
We netted 37 goals this indoor season, which was slightly above the league average (32). We also had a better goals against finish (27) than the league average (32). Mac invariably contributed to these figures with a fantastic performance in goal. That said, the bottom teams skew these results pretty heavily (I do not envy Chexx FC’s -34 goal differential).
This performance makes sense given who we were up against this indoor season. Of the eight teams in our indoor league, only one was formed by players from a Division above our summer Division: Purple Cobras FC.
We played in Division 6 during the summer, and Polonia was the only other Division 6 team that played in our indoor league.
Three of the remaining six indoor teams were drawn from below us in Division 7 (Azzurri and the ascendant Veni Vidi Vici FC) and Division 8 (poor Chexx FC), while another two teams only play indoors together (Black Flag FC and the fittingly named Relegation City FC).
Only Purple Cobras FC played above us last summer, with their top scorers drawn from a hodgepodge of Division 2, Division 5, and Division 6 teams.
In this respect, it’s fair to say that we finished where we deserved to. New summer additions to the team and returning stalwarts provide a strong and agile midfield, with some compelling finishing from strikers and attacking midfielders. The increased half-field space allowed for some great team-play and passing this indoor season and we looked smart, generally.
This indoor result should be particularly sweet for us because we came in third this past summer after Polonia. Things were different this winter. We destroyed them thoroughly, twice. Keep the red flag flying, Crescentwood!
What does the future have in store for the club? In football league tables, the only sensible direction to look is up.
Veni Vidi Vici FC and Purple Cobras FC both scored more goals than us and let fewer in. They point in a direction we can aim for as a team.
Due to our unusual position near the top of the table, CSSC received a bye straight into the semi final where they met a well fed Polonia side who posted a massive upset in the quarters by dumping Purple Cobras out of the post season. CSSC handled Polonia easily during regular season play, but were without three wise heads because the two Hudsons and Woolford took off during "reading" week. The squad was further weakened by Van Penners sleepless, binge through Ontario in the days before the big game. In the end Polonia again upset the form book dumping CSSC out 2-1 in an ill tempered affair. They got their first on a free kick over a slow to form CSSC wall. The second was an absolute scorcher two feet off the ground and right in the corner. Dorbolo deflected one in late on to provide some hope but it was not to be. In a microcosm of the whole game, the last kick saw CSSC shiny new match ball nestle high in the lights and fail to return.
Some consolation was earned the following week, with a 1-0 victory in the bronze medal game, with Van Penner scrambling in the ugliest winning goal ever and Bob Walden shutting the door in goal. If the Canadian women's team can parade their third place finish around like they won something, so can CSSC.
Crescentwood certainly has the players to make a compelling show, but we need more confidence in our finish. Perhaps more shooting practice is in order? And on defence, a similar air of confidence is needed – a tenacity to close on the ball quickly in our end and give the opposition no breathing room. Too many goals are conceded by giving the attacking team too much space or time.
All-in-all, this was a great Crescentwood indoor season. We enjoyed some laughs, pints, and plenty of great football. There’s lots to look forward to this summer season. The club has a solid foundation and ample new talent. Come on Crescentwood!