Hasenthal is new to the NPSL isnt? interested in knowing a little more since Boca plays them next, and of coarse I want to hear how Flash performed
It was a beautiful day to play. Great venue and field. Hasenthal opened up the scoring with a beautiful finish to an error in the flash defense. Flash played well in the middle and had very good finishing. Defense settled down in the 2nd half. Hasenthal was able to strip the ball from Flash quite often, but unable to finish to goal. Good team will become better as the season continues. Overall good game and a nice start to Flashes season.
Hasental have actually been around for a few years - they have entered the USOC qualifying tournament every year since 2008 if memory serves, but never made it into the proper draw - and used to play in the Gran Liga de Oxnard, one of Southern California's USASA D5 leagues. A lot of their players are made up of old SFV Quakes and VC Fusion players - the ones who never went pro - who are now a little too old to play in the PDL. Cal State Northridge and UCLA college alum like Greg Folk, Jason Leopoldo, Taylor Canel and Robert Pate. And in case anyone was wondering "hasental" is German for "rabbit valley", because they play in an area of SoCal called the Conejo Valley - "conejo" being Spanish for rabbit.
All of the SW teams except for Boca are new to the NPSL, but none of them are completely new teams. Hasental (as SheffWedFan said) and Santa Ana have been around for a few years playing in local leagues, Rattlers and Hollywood United came from the PDL, and the Flash is coming off its year of exhibition games. It should be an interesting conference with some good matchups. Sounds like all of the games this weekend were reasonably close, with Hollywood United, Boca, and Flash coming out on top over Santa Ana, San Jose, and Hasental, respectively.
I did a writeup of the SD Flash vs. FC Hasental game for those who are interested: Full Writeup: San Diego Flash Soccer Club
Would be interesting to see what his thoughts were. Particularly since the Flash seem to have come out the gate strong too meaning we've got two good looking squads off and on field after week one. It will be interesting to see how both teams fare as the season goes on.
Boca game was very good. Crowd was 800-900 fans. The food, music and entertainment was very good. At the Flash game the crowd was 100-200 and yes papo (San Diego Boca Head Coach) was at the game.
So Boca got between 70 and 900 and Flash got between 100 and 300 based on estimates here... glad we're not in charge of counting attendance in any official capacity.
I was at the Flash game, and stood near the scoreboard just prior to halftime. I counted about 40 people in one section, then compared that section to the other sections. My guess was also for a total in the 200-300 range. However, who knows how many of those were complimentary freebie tickets for family members. At $10 a ticket, I'll go back, but not each week.
I think you can get discounted tickets on the Flash website before gameday; that could save you some $$. Ok, I just looked...the pre-sale tickets for the April 17th game against Boca are $5. Half-price, not a bad reward for planning ahead. =) http://sandiegoflashsoccer.com/schedule/
Looks like both the Flash and Boca won today; this Sunday will be a bragging-rights battle between undefeated teams!
Boca 1-0 on a pk. The other team had a badly placed pk and it was saved by Boca Keeper. Text message from someone at Flash. 1-0 down at half, but came back for a 3-1 win. Looking forward to next Sunday!!!
From Flash's website for match vs. Boca: [LINEUP-4-4-2]10 Larry Emeanua, 9 Duatch ‘Dutch’ Jock, 4 Andy Ortega, 7 Nelson Pizarro, 12 Ladule LoSarah, 23 Sergio Valle Ortiz, 3 Nate Leboffe, 15 Adrian Dubois, 5 Lucas Carlsson, 20 Tim Roty, 1 Justin Meyers[/LINEUP-4-4-2]
San Diego Flash vs. San Diego Boca Both sides played really well today. The Flash went ahead off of a corner kick in the 25th minute to the near post which was headed into the left corner. Boca immediately responded with a goal in the 28th minute via a through pass which resulted in a 1v1. The shot was deflected by the keeper and the ball rolled onto the goal line. A defender slid in and kicked the ball off of the post and out of the goal and the referee allowed play to continue but the linesmen raised his flag and indicated that the ball cross the line for a goal. Things were pretty even for the rest of the game with the second half being pretty physical and mostly back and forth with some sloppy play by both sides in the midfield. Neither team could capitalize on opportunities even though they both should have scored. In the 89th minute a hard volley shot is saved by the Boca keeper only to be deflected right to a Flash player who makes a cheeky little chip into the back of the net to put the game away. Final Score: Flash 2 - Boca 1 Attendance was likely in the 500-600 range with about 150-200 people sitting in the "visiting" bleachers and the rest on the home side even though there were fans from both teams mingled together. A really great game. Those of you wanting to see a high quality of exciting soccer should try to get out and see any team in the NPSL this season as the games are a) cheap, b) entertaining, and c) quality football!
Re: San Diego Flash vs. San Diego Boca Very good reporting of the game. I concur with your thoughts. I also agree on the attendance. 500-600. Excellent turn out for a men's game. Looking forward to more.
Re: San Diego Flash vs. San Diego Boca But it also keeps them on track to gain entry into the Open Cup.
Uneventful game it was. Sol had a good showing considering they were without a coach and no subs. Sol dominated possession, but could not break through Flash's stable defense. They played smart and simple, but just could not get any shots off within the box. #10 from Flash showed a great display of ignorance and lack of soccer skill missing two opportunities within 12 yards from the goal. One chance when the Sol keeper was caught out of goal and all he had to do was simply direct the cross with his right foot instep, but attempted to be fancy and completely shanked a sitter right of the goal. Flash should have won the game 3-0. The flash showed a lot of quality individual skill, but did not really attempt to play with each other as much as they should have. A lot of plays were direct long balls with no purpose or mission. Never the less, they defended quality and kept the Sol from exploiting the goal. Sol had a lack of support for the striker, leaving him by himself to create his chances for most of the game. Overall a boring game at that. That weather was hot and the turf was burning the energy of the players. I would have preferred to see a full strength squad of the Sol. The game would have been different and most likely a different result. Hopefully these two teams can meet up in playoffs.
I agree with most, but disagree with Sol having most possession. Flash was flat but possession was 50/50. Sol relies on college players that should be released at the end of this week from spring season, then we will see a change in Sol and many other teams. It was inappropriate for #10 to miss two open goals. Staying focused in the simple and hard shots is critical to a good team. Flash played down to Sol's level which looked like Santa Rosa's U19 players plus a few older players. The Center defender was definitely their coach, since the Zeimers were not there. I was not pleased at playing 10 bucks to witness that sad game. I hope there is some changes to Flash. But I am always a fan!