The 91W team faced a very fired up and tough Red Devils team from ABGC.  This was the second match in a month between the two teams with Premier winning the first 4-0.  ABGC clearly was not happy with that result and came out to prove a point in the rematch.  They out hustled the 91's for nearly all of the first half.  Premier raised its level of intensity in the second half, but could not put the Red Devils away.  They played great unit defense the entire match.  Both teams created scoring opportunities, but both goalkeepers came up with saves to keep the match even at 0-0.  Best of luck to the Red Devils for the balance of the season Our third match was against the Bays at the dreaded Deer ES in Randallstown. Dreaded, in that we have never beaten them on this field.  Home field advantage means something in these games. The Bays scored early in the match and held a 1-0 lead into the 60th minute.  The second half started very poorly for the 91s as the Bays played brilliantly and were denied a 3-0 lead only by two great saves from the "Big Cat".  While Premier had opportunities, the Bays denied each one of them until Conor popped one in to tie the match. Premier was able to keep the momentum as Torrian was able to get behind a tough Bays defense a few more times before the game ended...he converted a nice half volley to give Premier a 2-1 win.   As always a great match, an even match and a match hosted by a  team and coaching staff that is the class of the league.  We are proud to be affiliated with the Bays though our league play.  Good luck the rest of the season.

 

 

 

The 91W's have been anticipating a rematch with the Matt Crew since last seasons disappointing loss in the State Cup final that ended in a PK shootout.  The two teams have had many great games and it has turned out to be a healthy rivalry for both clubs.  Premier was definitely stoked up for this one.  The 91's created several great scoring opportunities duirng the match but Matt Crew's goal keeper was spectacular.  He shut down two great breakaway shots by Torrian in the first half, one more in the second half and came up with up with steady saves thru the entire match.  Matt Crew got behind Premier's defense to create four or five quality chances but just enough pressure was kept on the ball to keep shots out of the net.  The Crew did strike first with a PK about ten minutes into the second half.  They went up one nil and controlled play for the next five minutes.  With about 15 minutes remaining in the match, Torrian broke free down the right flank, played a perfect cross to Cal who one timed in for the equalizer.  The 91's kept up the pressure for the balance of the game and Torrian broke free again and followed his rebounded shot into the net.  Torrian worked very hard the entire match, moving offthe ball, and challenging every 50-50 ball.  It paid off well for him and the team.  He had one of his best matches ever and he deserves great praise.  Congrats again to the Matt Crew keeper......he was outstanding and made the game a real battle to the end.  Congrats to the Premier defense who held tough giving up its only goal in the last 7 matches.  Alex and the back four have held strong all season, giving up only three goals this season, two on PK's .  Hopefully they will keep clicking in the season final against the always tough Bays.

 

 

The 91's took on a very solid U12 team that is playing up a year with a focus on team development.  While they have not had much success in terms of wins and losses, they clearly are a very, very good team.  Size and speed apart they match up well with most teams I have seen in the league.  Torrian went bazerk scoring his first hat trick of the season.   The defense recorded its 6th straight league shutout. Torrian ended the weekend (Matt Crew and Fusion) with 4 goals and an assist on the 5th goal we scored.

 

Premier AC Draws with McLean 0-0.

 

Last season the 91's took on a tough-nosed McLean Team and while we had the run of play, we came away with only 1 point in a disappointing draw.  This season's game was even more disappointing as Premier AC totally dominated the match in all phases except the one that counts....scoring.  Even on the "goat patch" field, the 91's were able to get behind the McLean defense regularly, did not give up a single shot on goal.  McLean's great goalkeeping and positive coaching combined with our missed opportunities added up to a 0-0 draw.  Congrats to McLean for gutting it out to the end.  They are a determined bunch.  Good luck for the rest of the season. 

 

I don't complement good officiating enough....and unfortunately the opportunity does not present itself this week.  However, on the whole, we have had good to great officiating this season. 

 

 

 

Premier AC Defeat Very Strong Freestate Team 2-0 - The 91's played two solid games in the "weekend of opposities" defeating both opponents 2-0.  Sunday's match pitted the 91's against the Freestate Titans who have been solid D1 competitors for all but one season.  Coach Pat and the Titans are all class, focused on playing the game with determination, tougness and and speed.  The 91's got off to an early lead off a corner kick that was banged around in the box a few times before Matt J. popped it in for 1-0 lead.  The 91's put alot of pressure on the Titans for the first 15 minutes and almost snuck in a second goal for an early 2 nil lead.  The Titans forced a huge momentum swing and really ran at the 91's for the next 15 minutes, demonstrating impressive speed of play that kept Premier on their heals.  Premier showed better balance to finish the half with a double cross that put Nick R. at the top of the box for a 23 yard half volley that hit the under side of the cross bar in the always sought after, rarely found "Upper 90"...Nicks shot was sweeter than Yoohoo!  Freestate continued to push and were it not for Conor S. scraping a ball of the goal line with minutes left in the first half, the game and outcome could have been different. The second half again had momentum swings with Freetsate winning most of the posession and Premier getting a couple of more looks at goal.  Freestate had another great opportunity to score late in the game, but Cal P. picked off another ball about to roll over the line to allow the Big Cat,  Alex to make the save.  This was a very even match and could have gonve either way.  It was also an attractive match in that the quality of play and sportmanship was at its highest.

Good luck to the Titans...it is clear to see why thay have a successful program.

 

Then there was Saturday's match, a day earlier, .....the opposite game.  Premier dominated the opponent for most of the game from the start with multiple scoring opportunities.  Cal P. hit a dipping shot from 18 yards that snuck over the keepers reach and just under the bar for a 1-0 lead.  Premier's second goal came in the second half with Torrian P. finishing a breakway with a 20 yard blast. While the score was only 2-0, a couple of missed goals with wide open nets and three spectacular saves by a truly talented GK kept it from being a blow out.  Premier defense was rock solid all weekend, recording their 4th straight shut out. Saturday's game was very different than Sunday's game.  Sunday's game was full of sportmanship, respect, class, good manners, playing within the spirit of the rules, and commrodery amongst respected coaches. Unfortunately, Saturdays game had none of that.  Fortunately, the 91's kept their poise through out the game and avoided all but one of the hand full of yellow cards dished out during the game for dangerous fouls and bad language.

 

 

The 91's took on the Potomac Cougars for the third time in a five weeks, this time with a convincing 5-0 victory.  The last two matches finished with 2-1 victories for Premier AC, but the 91's carried the play in both matches.  Premier found the net five times and missed out on a few others including a PK in the second half that would have given Conor a hat trick, which he ended up getting later in the match.  Eric scored a beautiful goal...slotted just inside the far post and Tyler popped in another from point blank range after a rebounder free kick.  Torian had his third outstanding match of the season.  He created a mess up front and opened up everyone for great opportunities.  Once again the defense was outstanding with its second shutout of the season.  Congrats to the 91's for a great showing on their new home field.....and to ASC for its efforts getting it in great shape.  Good luck to the Cougars for the balance of the season.

 

 

 

Premier AC played a very impressive match against Bethesda Inter.  The team played wonderful possession soccer in the first half. Playing into a stiff wind, Premier created several opportunities but the first goal came from a perfectly placed shot from Joey T. midway into the first half.  The 91's scored two beautiful goals in the second half, both assisted by Kevin K.  The first came off of a 25 yard bending cross into the box that Matt J. crushed with a full volley from 10 yards.  Kevin served up another perfect cross driving the ball across the box from 30 yards out.   Joey was there, as always to head it home to seal the 3-0 win.  Hats off to the 91 defense who were tight all game and gave Bethesda very little to work with.   Hopefully, the 91s stay sharp as the Fall season matures.  Best of luck to Inter for the balance of the season.

 

 

Premier AC played a very good match against a very good opponent to open the '04 Fall season.  The game was a treat for all fans.  MSC carried the play for the first 15 minutes of the game, but the Premier found the net first to go up 1-0.  Nick R. found Tyler E. with a nice cross into the box that was headed home for the go ahead goal.  Premier played with great confidence for the balance of the half and had the run of play.  The second half was full of exciting scoring chances, most belonging to MSC.  They pushed the net very hard resulting in a a PK with about 18 minutes to play.  Premier AC countered with a few solid opportunities of our own, but MSC found the net again with a hard fought goal with 5 minutes reaming in the match.  Premier showed very well against a extremely talented team.  Best of luck to MSC as they play into the Fall season.  I'm sure we will face each other again before the holidays.

 

 

The 91's closed out the Spring 04 season with a solid victory.  Several kids scored and assisted in the match with the Big Cat recording a shut out.  His back line kept the play in front of them the entire match.  With the close of the season, the 91's are focused on the State Cup final this weekend.

 

 

The 91W's fought thru multiple injuries to key players to earn a 4-1 victory over a tough Excell team.  Cal recorded his second hat trick of the season after Torrian found the net for the games first goal.  Premier heads to the FC Delco Cup over the holiday weekend with our focus on getting healthy before the State Cup final four the following week.  Good luck to FESC for the balance of the season.

 

 

Bethesda Inter - This was the first of two matches against two of Maryland's State Cup Final Four.

First, Great ref.  He did an outstanding job and made it an enjoyable game.  Without too many words, Premier carried the play in the first half and Bethesda carried the play in the second half.  It wasn't until the last ten minutes of the match that Premier created any solid scoring opportunities.  Inter is very well organized and tough to get behind.  Inter had two great opportunities, one hit the post and the the "Big Cat" made a great grass cutter save on the other.  Thanks to Bethesda for an enoyable match and good luck to them in the Stae Cup Final Four.

 

MSC United - Once again weere fortunate to have an outsatnding ref.  This game was not an easy one to officiate as it was full of fair and spirited soccer.  Both teams played tough hard nosed soccer within the rules of the game.  This ref did a wonderful job to allow the players to play and the game to flow.  He made a couple of outstanding calls in the interest of players safety that could have gone either way.  MSC went up 1-0 about ten minutes into the game.  They finished off a quality cross from the right flank.  Few team I have seen finish as well as MSC.  This was another great example.  MSC knocked in their second goal about 18 minutes in with a well taken free kick from about 25 yards.

At this point the flow of the game took a turn in Premier's favor as Torrian scored only minutes after MSC scored their second.  Premier came close to an equalizer before the half ended, but very tough goal keeping by MSC kept Torrian out of the net for his second goal in the half.  The second half flow favored Premier with several good looks at goal but no rewards.  MSC penetrated regulary as well and it paid off with a little more than four minutes left in the match as they were awarded a PK.   The Big Cat got a finger tip on the first shot, it hit the post and bounced across the goal mouth.  MSC put the second ball away to give them a 3-1 lead.  Premier responded with a quick goal by Torrian to bring it to 3-2 with 2 minutes left.  John Q. put the equalizer in from 25 yards with only 20 seconds left in the match.  While we have played MSC tough before, they have always been a team that held control of the match and handled every thing we could throw at them.  In this game, Premier really challenged MSC for the final forty minutes of the match....again something we have not been able to do in the past.  The kids showed great toughness to come back from  two, two goal deficits.  Well done Premier and thanks to Julio and the United for a great match.  Best of luck to them in the Maryland State Cup.

 

 

Freestate Titans - TiatnsPremier AC took on the Freestate Titans on May 2nd at Highland Park field in Bowie, Md.  The game was hard fought, and frankly the Titans took advantage of tired Premier legs to win most of the 50/50 balls.  Premier scored midway thru the first half to go up 1-0.  The Titans came back to tie the score before the half ended on a corner kick that slipped by everyone except the Titan that finished it.  The Titans looked impressive and much improved.  It is yet another very well coached team in D1.  While the match was enjoyable the field did not meet NCSL standards. At 48 yards wide, with trees hanging 10 yards over a third of the field, suffice it to say it takes away some of the benefits that come with speed.  Coach Greg earned his first card ever, by running on to the field to tend to what appeared to be a seriously injured player who was taken down by a very vicous hit from behind.  I don't think it was intentional, but the result was the same.  Remarkably, the ref saw my coming onto the field as to tend to a player that was screaming in pain as more severe than the foul.  The game ended a 1-1 draw.

 

The RFC match was different than the last two, and still a great battle of two of Virginia's best.  Premier did not play with the rythym we have in the past against RFC.  RFC also controlled the midfield for a good part of the game.  Both keepers made a couple of great saves with Premier creating a few more dangerous opportunities than RFC.  RFC Alex S. came up big with 1 v 1 save against Torrian that denied what looked like the first goal of the match.  Alex C, the Big Cat made a great collapse save from 12 yards to protect the tie.  And then......about ten minutes into the first half, the ref had his worst of several bad moments.  He called a PK that was utterly ridiculous.  Sorry to sound so harsh, but officiating this season has been poor, and this was the clincher for me.  RFC's striker held the ball on the bottom corner of the 18 facing the corner flag.  Premiers FB poked tackled the ball near out of bounds from between the strikers legs.  RFC striker step toward the ball and tripped.  PK.  What makes this call so harsh is the player had his back to the goal, and the 18 yard box, and had no way to threaten the goal.  His only option would have been to play the ball wide.  There was no foul in the first place and certainly none that would warrant a PK in such a well contested game.  Unfortunatley, the poor officating was not limited to this one call.  Premier took a sweet shot from about 20 yards that slipped thru the keepers hands...don't think it went over the line, but it may have.  As the ball was in flight, the ref blew his whistle to discipline a loud fan.  He stopped the half as RFC was taking a shot on goal....again, ball in flight.  Several fouls were called followed by an explanation of the rules to players, eliminating any possibility of quick restarts for any either team.   Hopefully, it was just a bad day but the trend seems to be there and it is impacting the game.  The kids on all of these teams understand that good and bad officiating is part of the game and you deal with it.  It just shouldn't be part of nearly every game.  We have had the good fortune of having superb refs in all of our state cup matches.  VYSA seems to have great success with their crews.....it can be done.

 

Congrats and good luck to Coach Rich and the many other friends we have with RFC.