Renegades 1-1 tie, November 4

 As a general rule, ties of the sporting rather than sartorial sort are often under rated. Conversely, ties of the sartorial rather than the sporting sort are often over rated. I went to graduate school for 8 or 9 years largely so I wouldn't have to wear a tie to work like my insurance salesman father who dressed everyday of his life as if he was auditioning for Mad Men.

When the Force U12 girls came away with a tie this early (7AM!) morning against Renegade 99 this general principle of life came to my mind. I can remember my father dragging me to St. Clair Shores Civic Arena for 5 AM hockey practice -- showered, shaved and in a jacket and tie.

This AM I only had to reach for a t-shirt and sweats. Razor? Who knows. Shower? Later. Gross, perhaps,  but the 1-1 tie in the game felt great.

The girls needed something other than a loss much more than I needed a shave. They came out with great energy and good ball movement. They couldn't create any opportunities against the bigger and older "Renegades" (what's in a name?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWMSpNwd3aU) but they controlled the tempo. In the indoor league ("we play soccer indoors, not indoor soccer") the girls are playing slightly different positions. Today it seemed to pay off. Rhea, Grace, and Natalie played terrific on the backline supporting defensive stalwart enemy Emmi. Grace's ability to play balls out of the air and volley and distribute the ball were particularly helpful from this spot. Unfortunately, a slow knuckleball dribbled past Kate to give the Renegades a 1-0 lead in the first half. It is a tribute to her consistently excellent goalkeeping that when such a score happens -- as it inevitably will -- it looks so odd to spectators.

Kyra was right at home, however, at forward, and delivered a hard strike from a very tough angle to tie the game up pretty early in the second half. The girls added some late game pressure that forced the Renegade keeper to pick up a backpass from a defender but the referee overruled both linesmen and thus an opportunity was lost.

Ah well. That's how early it was. That's how good the tie felt. Force parents joked with the linesman about the blown call. A brand new season is certainly underway. Indeed, had the girls played 15 more minutes they would have come out of their stupor from the fall  hazing and realized they were the far superior team. By, then, though all the good bagels would have been gone.