Downtown Soccer League games were canceled Saturday because of Yom Kippur, but there was a full schedule Sunday.
Espanyol vs. Barcelona
This is what the D.S.L. is all about! Sunday’s match-up between Espanyol and Barcelona was a nail-biter to the final whistle — a well-balanced game in which advantage and momentum swung numerous times. Fans enjoyed nerve-racking corner kicks, breathtaking breakaways, gritty defense and fingertip saves, each competing for “play of the game.”
Barcelona’s Aidan Rogers came out hot, putting the first tally past Espanyol’s keeper just minutes in on a fine feed from center Bryan Gomez, but it wasn’t long before Espanyol’s Theo Fandrich evened the score with a long high blast to the upper left corner off a fine feed from Elliot Loving. Play was intense in the midfield as Barcelona’s Eve Grassfield and Espanyol’s Chun Schlesinger-Fried duked it out for midfield dominance until Nigel Epp’s quick boot from the right side found a streaking Rogers for his second goal.
Espanyol seemed deflated by this score, and moments later Rogers tallied the hat trick as Rogers and Gomez paired up for a nifty set of give-and-gos, which left Espanyol defenders shaking their heads and Barcelona parents and teammates jumping for joy. The second half looked to be more of the same as Barcelona’s Mazzie Leinbach, Rocket Farah, Henry Lilien and Chloe Lombardi each took turns pushing the ball into Espanyol territory.
Austin Chin, Sean McGowan and Adam Moftah each had good opportunities for Espanyol as play evened, until Rogers again showed his flash, faking out a stunned Espanyol side on a 60-yard rush to the net, which goalie William Merril forced wide at the last instant.
Just as Barcelona began to feel secure, Espanyol turned up the heat. Alex Hirsch and Charlotte Youklis rose to the occasion, continually stopping runs by Barcelona and feeding numerous outlet passes to midfielders Jared Young and Ydanes Madero until Loving made another of his fine rushes, finding Fandrich alone in front of the net to lift Espanyol within one.
Now was Espanyol’s moment in the sun. Bringing their defense well up the field, they bottled Barcelona in its own end for the final 10 minutes, resulting in corner kick after corner kick, but defensemen Vilde Stokke, Taylor White, Jasmin Campise and Hunter Wolf held their ground and took up the slack for the exhausted offense. Shot after shot was stopped by Barcelona goalie James Demsak, who turned in another masterpiece in preserving the win for a tired but glowing Barcelona side. The final score was Barcelona 3, Espanyol 2.
