With an amazing burst of speed, Chiropolos came out of nowhere, crossing the goal mouth far from his right midfielder position, and flew through the air. Perfectly timed, his body blocked the shot headed for the upper left corner of the goal, thus preserving the hard-fought tie.

The only slight downer from the first game of the spring season was that the shot was Ray's and Mike preserved the tie for our opponents, the Rockin' Eagles. Final result: 1-1. Still, the athletic feat was much talked about during post-game beers and Chiropolis came up with a novel alibi in that he was "trying to shield the goalkeeper's vision".

Speaking of post-game beers, the hardy crew of nine who braved the drizzling rain and cold were all awarded player of the post-game (see photo at right). Player of the Game award was more difficult to determine. The entire back line did an excellent job of not only limiting the young opponents' speedy attack but, in the first half, aggressively pushed forward and kept the ball in the Eagles' half of the field. Wright was nominated for gritty midfield play, including a number of fouls committed by him on the opponents. "I was tired and they were fast," offered Wright in explanation. Cohen earned the assist and POG nomination for his run through the penalty box before being taken down by a defender for a PK, nicely put away by Ray for his first of many goals this season. Cohen was apparently slightly miffed when the rest of the Pellmans squad celebrated the referee's call, while no one asked if he was actually injured. Apparently, the team thought there might have been a little salesmanship in the fall, although it was agreed by everyone on the field that a PK was accurately awarded.

In the end, Brad Pellman himself earned Player of the Game. With a few fumbles early on, Pellman got his mid-season form back by mid-game, stopping a number of shots and keeping Team Pellmans in the game during a second half when our roster of 20 dwindled to a single substitute. Unfortunately, with Brad out the next two games, the team is looking for a likely beer source for the coming match.

And in the final game summary note, Tom is officially 0/1 on his opinion of competent referees for the season.