Carman Valley Leader-September 15, 2003-Kickers eliminated from playoff race

By Gene Still  — The Carman Kickers ended their 2003 soccer season on a losing note. Carman went down to defeat, 3-2, at the hands of St. James U2. The game could have had serious playoff implications for the visiting Kickers as they had been chasing down the eighth and final playoff spot in the Fourth Division of the Manitoba Major Soccer League. But Carman needed a victory over U2 and Ragnarok and East Side to lose their remaining games. Ragnarok co-operated as they were blitzed 9-0 by the second place Hanover Strikers but East Side had defeated the Rovers to secure a playoff berth and officially eliminate Carman. Kickers’ coach William Hoogerdijk, said regardless of what happened in the playoff race, Carman was also trying to remain in the Fourth Division. If they don’t finish in the top ten, they would be moved to the Fifth Division for next season. “It was still an important game because we had a chance to avoid being relegated,” Hoogerdijk said. “And I think from the way we played this year, we should be able to stay at this level (Fourth).” But the Kickers faced an uphill battle before the match began against U2. Carman was only able to field a team of nine players. “We had only nine guys show up because of injuries and other commitments,” Hoogerdijk said. Further complicating matters was that the Kickers were forced to play without either of their regular netminders. Despite being two men short for the entire contest and having to go with Mike Kamminga, who hadn’t played the position for several years, in net, Carman refused to quit. “The nine guys that came out, played their hearts out,” Hoogerdijk said. “And Mike did a pretty good job in net for us.” The Kickers opened the scoring about 15 minutes into the opening half, when Pete Vanderzwaag scored the game’s opening goal off of a corner kick by teammate Kendall Ferris. But about eight minutes later U2 scored on a header to tie it. Vanderzwaag then pressured the St. James defence into a mistake as they tried to pass the ball back to their goalie but he was rushed and made a poor kick to get it out of the U2 zone. “He didn’t get enough on the ball and Dale Dewit pounced on it and pumped back it,” Hoogerdijk said. That lead lasted until there were about seven minutes to go before the intermission and U2 tied it up off of another header. Despite having twice surrendered the lead, the Kickers remained upbeat at the half. “We came into the half feeling pretty good and there was a lot of guys telling each other to ‘keep your energy up and play smart’,” Hoogerdijk said. But it wasn’t meant to be on this day for Carman as St. James got what turned out to be the game winner just twelve minutes into the second half. “We were down but we probably had another four chances to score,” he said. “We couldn’t get the equalizer, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.”In the end, the short bench caught up with the club.“Some of the guys said, that even when they got to the ball, ‘I didn’t have much energy to do anything with it’,” Hoogerdijk noted. “Still, it was a real solid effort from the guys.“They never gave up.”