Werder Weekly 2008 - May 2

Photographs from today are in the Werder Weekly slide show

Date

May 2, 2008

Participants

Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Kevin Nieman

Report

It turned out to be a very good night for Dominic Hutchinson, playing at home. As Wayne Smith away taking part in the Maryland Open there were only four players.

The younger Hutchinson started the night with a victory over Adam Carlson. Dominic dominated the first quarter of the game and scored the only goal of the game in the third minute, with a chip shot over Adam’s goalkeeper. The ‘shots on goal’ ratio showed Dominic’s dominance as he had eight shots on goal: the goal, one that hit the goalpost, another that struck the crossbar, and the rest were saved by Carlson’s goalkeeper. His opponent did not get any shots on target. As the game wore on it became scrappier. In the second half both players struggled to keep possession for more than just a few flicks, and neither player could keep control of the ball long enough to push it into their opponent’s shooting zone.

In his second game Dominic defeated his father for the first time. The younger Hutchinson took the lead in the tenth minute of the first half. Dominic missed a flick on the left side of his opponent’s shooting zone. With his flick Simon knocked one of Dominic’s figures into a perfect shooting position. Dominic declined the ‘back’, and shot into the top right corner of the goal. He doubled his lead in the third minute of the second half. Dominic came down the center of the pitch, through a large gap in Simon’s defensive line, and shot low to the left side of the goal. Simon pressed forward with increasing number of figures as he sought to get back into the game. He did not seem to be able to cope with the way the ball would roll on the Rookery as he kept over playing the ball beyond his figures. Dominic responded to the pressure with a nine man defensive line, happy to defend his two goal lead. The elder Hutchinson’s pressure was rewarded with a goal in the tenth minute. He won a free kick just outside Dominic’s shooting line. Simon positioned another figure very close the free kick on the shooting line. He tapped the free kick just over the line to the other figure, Dominic’s defensive flick struck the ball and his defender was moved ‘back’, Simon had a clear shot on goal which he took and scored. The younger Hutchinson defense held out for the remaining five minute, and he claimed his victory.

While Kevin Nieman had most of the possession and shots on goal the first half of his game with Adam Carlson ended goalless. Nieman scored first in the second half, from five inches from the goal with a slow rolling shot into the goal. Adam equalized with his only shot on goal. He stranded Kevin’s goalkeeper with a ‘steal’, described as “phenomenal” by his opponent, touched up to line up, and then shot into the empty goal. Kevin’s restored his lead with a hard shot from the right side of Carlson’s shooting zone into the left side of goal. Adam was not disappointed with his loss as it is his first goal scored against Kevin.

Simon Hutchinson had most of the possession it took him until the eighth minute to score his first goal against Adam Carlson. Simon pushed around the side of Adam’s defense on the right and chipped the ball over the goalkeeper into the top left of the goal. Two minutes later with Simon’s defensive line in disarray Carlson pushed the ball over the line and shot almost immediately driving the ball into the top of the center of the goal. The elder Hutchinson’s second goal came in the sixth minute of the second half with a chip from the right side into the top left of Adam’s goal. Simon’s final goal came in the eleventh minute from a free kick. The free kick was at the top of Carlson’s penalty area. The ball was passed to a striker who passed the ball back to the figure who had taken the free kick, who shot. The shot bounced off a defender and into the left side of the goal, while Adam’s goalkeeper was moving to the right.

The first half of the game between Kevin Nieman and Dominic Hutchinson was described by both players as “pretty even”. Despite this Nieman scored the first goal of the game in the fourth minute. His shot came from an odd angle on the right side that crept under the goalkeeper taking both players by surprise. Dominic had to defend most of the second half against Kevin’s attack. This did not stop him from equalizing in the seventh minute with a shot from the left side, from a difficult angle, that went over Kevin’s goalkeeper and into the right side of the goal. Nieman’s winner was scored with what he described as the longest flick he had ever scored from. Kevin pushed the ball into Dominic’s shooting zone, and then lost possession missing the ball with his flick. Dominic’s flick also missed the ball. Kevin found that all of his strikers were blocked by Dominic’s figures. His only figure with a clear line to the ball was a defender behind his own shooting line, and had only about one inch of space between Dominic’s defenders. He flicked, the figure made it through the gap between Dominic’s defenders, struck the ball and drove it into Dominic’s goal.

The final game of the night between Kevin Nieman and Simon Hutchinson ended goalless. Most of the game was played between the two shooting zones. While Simon out shot Kevin 6-3, he only had two shots that were dangerous, the first struck the goalpost and the other that Nieman had to save from a corner. Kevin came closest to scoring with just two minutes left in the game. His shot from just outside Simon’s penalty area coincided with Dominic taking a photograph, both players were blinded by the flash, and Simon’s reflex to block the unseen ball pushed it out for a throw in on the opposite side of the pitch.

At the end of the night Dominic was very happy with his ‘second place’ finish. Nieman finished in first place with two wins and a draw. Dominic finished second with two wins and a loss. Simon finished in third with one win, one draw, and one loss. Carlson finished with the wooden spoon with three losses.

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