Maricopa Cup 2007 R9

Date

October 7, 2007

Participants

Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson Edward Nathan, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith

Report

There were six draws out of fifteen games in today’s Ninth round of the Maricopa Cup.

Dominic Hutchinson and Adam Carlson fought out the first draw of the tournament as both players could not convert possession into a decent shot at goal.

On the other table Wayne Smith had to fight hard to beat Simon Hutchinson. Smith took the lead in the second minute. Simon equalized midway through the first half with a shot that went under Smith’s goalkeeper. Two goals scored midway through the second half sealed the win for Smith. “It was really tough,” was Smith’s only comment after the game.

Edward Nathan 'mercy ruled' Dominic by 4-0. “I am improving,” Nathan said. “I liked my shots and I played for the angles.”

Carlson faired better against Kevin Nieman only losing 0-2. “Adam played well,” Nieman said complimenting his opponent. “He frustrated me the whole match. I had to work hard for my goals”.

Carlson did better in his next game scoring a goal in his 1-2 defeat at the hands of Edward Nathan. “He is getting better,” Nathan said. “His goalkeeping is really good. He made three or four good saves and I missed an open goal.”

“I am doing much better with my goalkeeping,“ Carlson agreed.

Dominic and Simon Hutchinson fought out a 1-1 draw. Dominic took the lead in the first half and it took his father until midway through the second half to equalize. “I squandered too many attacks and I won a lot of corners (nine) that I just could not convert into decent shots on goal,” said a frustrated Simon.

A goal in either half was enough for Smith to beat Nieman. “This is not the same old SCSC that I could just show up and win six and seven – zero,” Smith explained.

Nieman was philosophical “I was really good, but Wayne capitalized on the mistakes I made to score.”

Carlson tried playing Simon without using Maricopa Vase rules and was 'mercy ruled', 0-4, in eleven minutes.

Smith scored three first half goals to beat Nathan.

Nieman played back-to-back goalless draws with the Hutchinsons.

“Dominic played well,” Nieman said after the first draw. “I failed to capitalize on my six corners.”

“Six corners in this game makes a total of fifteen corners in my last two games,” Dominic said illustrating how well he had defended.

“That was really tiring,” Nieman said after his game with Simon. “I was trying really hard. I just came up short. A draw was a fair result.”

“Another hard fought zero – zero draw with Kevin,” was Simon’s only comment.

Simon’s game against Nathan ended in his third draw of the tournament. Edward took the lead in the first half and Simon equalized in the second. “My touch has abandoned me today,” said Simon. “There were many times I missed the ball in Edward’s half.”

“Simon has a tight defense,” Nathan said with a smile on his face. “His goalie made some good stationary saves.” He was referring to when he had a shot at goal before Simon had got his hand on his goalkeeper only for the ball strike the stationary keeper and go out for a throw in.

Carlson suffered his second 'mercy rule' defeat, 0-4, of the tournament. This time it was to Smith.

Wayne completed his clean sweep of tournament beating Dominic. The surprise was it was only by one goal. “It was really hard to get around Dominic,” Smith said. “I lost count of how may saves his goalkeeper made.”

“I made nine saves,” Dominic confirmed. “I did really well after Wayne polished the bases of my team.”

Smith finished in first place with five wins from five games, and only conceded one goal. Nieman finished in second place, one point ahead of Simon and Nathan who were separated by just one goal’s difference. Dominic was two points behind the others. And Adam finished two points behind Dominic in last place.

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