Robbed of points in their first visit to the Maryland Soccerplex, Xtreme was determined to come home with points after their second trip to the Free State in as many weeks. They would not be disappointed. Xtreme took to the turf against newly-formed WSC Pachuca Dragons 98 Blue, whose crisp new uniforms said that in spite of the team's new status, they were here to play.
The game began with Red taking control and moving the ball well. The first several shots belonged to Xtreme, and Happy Feet was rarely tested in goal.
Finally, at 10 minutes, the Dragons would strike on a long ball that freed one of their fastest players. Happy Feet made the initial save, but the spinning ball would squirt out of her hands. A heads-up play from the aggressive Dragon striker enabled her to capitalize on the loose ball and nudge the ball across the goal line.
Having dominated the play to that point and finding themselves in a one goal hole, Red was put back on their heels temporarily. They are, however, Xtreme 98 Red, and if they aren't fighting an uphill battle, what are they doing? They rallied and at 18 minutes would equalize.
The Professor stood a Dragon midfielder up at the half mark and sent a nice ball down the side to a waiting Sledgehammer. Sister Sledge would play a through ball to the Taxman who danced through two defenders and blasted the ball into the back of the net.
Back to even, the teams would trade possessions for several minutes, until Red would go on a relentless streak, scoring three goals in a five minute span as the half wound down.
First, at 27 minutes, the Sledgehammer would notch her second assist of the day when she found First Aid in the box who would beat the Dragon keeper, short side.
Four minutes later, Sunshine would really use her head when she took on a taller defender in the box. She leapt up and sent a header over the defender towards the center where a waiting Taxman would pound her second of the season past the keeper.
Just a minute later, the Hammer would take on two Dragon defenders and come away with the ball. She found Space Ghost, tearing down the left side who would beat her coverage and then beat the shell-shocked Dragon keeper.
We went to half time up 4-1 – a first for Red.
But the Dragons made several adjustments, and despite warnings to the Red players from fans and their teammates not to get complacent, the Dragons did make the game interesting – tripling their shots on goal in the half. Sharkey would turn away all four shots she faced and then come out of goal for the final minutes, replaced by First Aid.
Two unfortunate Red hand balls as time was running out would keep the Dragon hopes alive, and on one of them, at 68 minutes, they would cut the Red lead to two. The ball got past the Red wall where a secondary defender would try to clear it. Unfortunately, the angles weren't kind to Red and we recorded an own goal for the Dragons' second of the game.
That would, however, round out the scoring and it goes into the books as a 4-2 win. The girls were treated to Kona shaved ice for their efforts, and all the players contributed in the win.
Big Foot logged a season-high 11 booming shots and had the girls covering her diving to the ground in an attempt to keep up with her deadly reverses. Grace, who still needs a nickname, and came to the game on legs that had just played a lacrosse game came close to notching her first assist more than once, as her line of Sledgehammer and Sunshine knocked on the Dragons' door more than once.
Red moves ahead of three teams in the division and now looks forward to another road game next week when they take on the third place LMVSA Patriots on Sunday in Alexandria.
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