Mirror, Mirror on the Pitch: A Tale of Two Perfectly Matched Teams
by Cecilia Nieves
The first match-up this past Sunday found identical twins, twin teams that is. The Slim McGinn’s Slaintes and the Brocach Bandits mirrored each other from one end of the field to the other. The only way to differentiate which team was which in this match was the color of their jerseys.
This match not only started on time (which is always a great start to the day), but it started with a bang. Shortly after the initial throw-in, Slim McGinn’s goalie Andy McKee had an amazing save after Bandit captain Tony Gilbert took a shot on goal. The Slaintes took advantage of the quick turn around and took an even quicker lead with a goal. Thanks to the amazing defensive play by Michael Meyers for Brocach, Gilbert was able to take possession again and this time he was able score a point for his team. Slim’s next opportunity to score was quickly thwarted by a mind-blowing steal by Jamie Phillips putting the ball back on the offensive for Brocach allowing another point.
It seemed that the Bandits were ready to continue the assault on the Slim’s defense when Steve Pruzina attempted to take the ball to the goal, but seasoned full back and team captain Matt “Not so Slim” Ebert was able to put a damper on Pruzina’s plans. Most likely feeding from his great defense, Dan “Danny Mac” McAuliffe went straight to the Bandit’s goal to take the lead. The Brocach defense would not let the Slaintes keep the lead for long as the quarter finished off with a great shot on goal by Liam Raasch that dropped into the box and was knocked in by Patsy Hardt. The mirrored teams was never more evident in their scores at the end of the first quarter: Slim’s 2-0 (6) to Brocach’s 1-3 (6).