Degenkolb FC Faces a Relentless Opponent and Harsh Weather in its Final Match
To say it was raining on Tuesday night would be a massive understatement. It was pouring buckets as the Degenkolb FC team took the field for its final game of the season. And to add to the damp conditions, a gale force wind was blowing through Telegraph Field throughout the game, directing the rain sideways such that it hit you right in the face. The poorly drained field was a mess of puddles that caused the ball to stop dead upon impact. If the field were a school yard, the teachers would have been yelling at the students to knock off their shenanigans and get indoors before they caught pneumonia. Remember that epic scene from The Perfect Storm? Yeah, it was like that… without the rain slickers.
Degenkolb’s opponent during this miserable weather was BGI Red (as usual, no idea what they do). It was refreshing to see that ours was not the only company with a few lunatic soccer players willing to run around in the rain for an hour. Although to be quite honest, I think the Degenkolb players would have been just as happy if their opponent had not shown up so that they could take the forfeit and get the heck outta there. The tenacious bunch consisted of Taka “Puddle Jumper” Yokoyama, Gordy “Equipment Malfunction” Wray, Henry “Sweatpants Were a Bad Decision” Burton, Shane “I ALWAYS Wear Sweatpants” Gross, Erik “Cold Keeper” Kneer, Chris “No Brakes” Davis, John “Foggy Glasses” Sticklen, and Allison “Hold My Umbrella” Hellner. Team manager Adam Azofeifa was reduced to watching the game from the sidelines (and holding Allison’s umbrella) with a bad cold. BGI was tied for first in the league standings and looking to beat Degenkolb to solidify their position as the #1 seed for the upcoming playoffs. And they brought their A-game. It helped them that Degenkolb was outnumbered for the entire game, having to play a player down with Allison being the lone woman out on the field. Throughout the game, BGI was able to maneuver the soggy turf a bit better than Degenkolb, and in the end it was BGI who won by quite a large margin.
Thus, Degenkolb closes out its first soccer season with a 3-6-1 record – not too shabby for a bunch of engineers who had never played together before. Here are the offensive stats for the season:
- Taka Yokoyama: 5 Goals, 2 Assists
- Adam Azofeifa: 4 Goals, 2 Assists
- Gordy Wray: 4 Goals, 1 Assist
- Chris Davis: 2 Goals
- Henry Burton: 2 Goals
- Melissa Vickery: 2 Goals
- John Sticklen: 1 Goal, 1 Assist
- Allison Hellner: 1 Goal
- Roger Parra: 1 Assist
Much credit also goes to Erik and Shane for some stellar goal keeping throughout the season.
Congratulations to the entire team on a well played inaugural season!
