Kisling's Tavern
HANGOVER UNITED
Soccer Club
Baltimore, Maryland USA - Est. 1995

HANGOVER UNITED - MATCH REPORT 2003 WEEK 2

HANGOVER UTD TAKE M.S.A. 3-0, STILL UNSCORED UPON
By David Jones for soccernet.com
14 SEPTEMBER 2003

BALTIMORE, MD – Hangover United took on M.S.A. this past week at Patterson Park in their second week MMSL match. Hangover looked a bit off the mark early as they had a hard time finding teammates when passing. M.S.A. did a good job clogging the midfield making it difficult for Hangover to keep possession and start good ball work. Hangover sweeper Chuck Wasson saw the problem and instructed the rest of the defense to go more direct and look up field for the long ball as opposed to the short outlet pass. Then within 2 minutes of the adjustment, opportunities began to present themselves and caused trouble for the M.S.A. defenders. John Jenkins ran down a through ball the defense gave up on. Jenkins got to the ball in time before the keeper turned beat a defender and was able to get a flick off on goal that the keeper couldn’t get to giving Hangover the 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. Hangover kept up the long ball strategy and it opened up the midfield. Strong play in the middle from Art Mullen really solidified the offensive effort. In the 42nd minute a ball played by Aron Shea who was able to slip it by the M.S.A. goalkeeper and Brent Ormistan closed on the ball to tap into the empty net but the ball stopped in a puddle on the goal line and Brent went right on by it. For the second week in a row, substitute keeper Jon Pitonzo did very well in net and kept his sheet clean with a few very nice stops. The half ended 1-0 to Hangover.  

In the second half, the Hangover took it directly to M.S.A. which led to a couple early opportunities. Recent Hangover signing Aron Shea, put on a performance up top, in this his debut, working well with Jenkins, Gerbasi and Mullen in the middle. Then in the 60th minute Art Mullen with some deft footwork laid the ball off to Danny Gerbasi who found a wide open Lee Collins on the right wing, Aron Shea did well to move out and create space for John Jenkins who came the far side of the 18 to meet Lee Collins’ perfect cross and head into the net giving Hangover a 2-0 lead. “That was by far the prettiest goal of the season. The teamwork all the way down the field was fantastic to watch. That is what we are capable of this year… some damn sexy footie!! ” player/manager said after the match. After that goal you could feel the intensity drop a notch and more space open up on the pitch. The Hangover defense again did its job. Although at times it wasn’t pretty, they did do a very good job of keeping the MAS forwards at bay. The cherry on top was Art Mullen putting through Aron Shea in the 81st minute on a nice diagonal pass that Shea ran onto put a shot on goal that the keeper put a hand to but couldn’t control and Shea then followed it up and tapped into the open net for the third and final goal of the match. The 3-nil victory gave Hangover its second clean sheet win in a row keeping them top of the Division II table.

At the post match press conference at Kisling’s, player/manager Chris King said, “Now this match felt good. There was an intensity and focus from every player that is great to see.” King then added, “M.S.A. are good side and we handled them well. I can’t help but feel very good about our chances in the weeks to come... We have a big match this Sunday against the #2 team Peninsula United – we need a good victory over them to really establish ourselves as serious Div II contenders. Ohh and my Philadelphia EAGLES are absolute crap!!” An excellent turn out at Kislings afterward had roughly 14 players running up a $240 tab.

After 2 weeks, John Jenkins is still the MMSL point leader for both Div I & II with 13 points (5 goals, 3 assists) . Hangover next take on an old rival Peninsula United on Sunday at 10AM at Bonvegna Field in Canton.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Art Mullen (great game at central midfield)
GOAL OF THE MATCH: John Jenkins header (teamwork stringing together 4 passes w/ a beautiful cross from Lee Collins)
FOUL OF THE MATCH: don’t recall any

NEXT MATCH: SUN SEPTEMBER 21 -v- Peninsula Utd @ Bonvegna Field ko 10:00 AM