Carman Valley Leader-Short-staffed Kickers lose game lead

By Andrew Stewart
Photo by Heather Baril      Despite a strong start to their Tuesday evening game, the Kickers were unable to maintain their 2-0 lead, losing the game 4-2 against the visiting Reservoir Dogs.


The Carman Kickers soccer team were in action last week in a game that was finished by the squad under protest.Last Tuesday, the Kickers played host to the Reservoir Dogs and according to Coach William Hoogerdijk, despite playing short-staffed with only nine men, said “things were going fine.” The team had a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals by Richard Vanderveen and were playing well enough to hold Reservoir off the score sheet.However, following the ejection of their goalie from the game, the team began losing their lead.“It was a brutal call,” said Hoogerdijk.According to Hoogerdijk, Carman’s goalie “supposedly handled the ball outside the 18 yard box”, which should come with a penalty shot as the maximum punishment.“The ref gave him a red card instead,” he added, which forced the team to play the rest of the game with only eight players.With a bare minimum of players left, Hoogerdijk hoped the team “might have been able to hold them to a tie.”But down to eight and playing without their regular goalie or backup goalie Fabric Crego, the Kickers surrendered four goals, losing the game 4-2.“It wasn’t a nice game,” said Hoogerdijk, adding that the players that showed up, “played a great game”.The loss drops the Kickers record to five wins, six losses and two ties, which still leaves them in a good position to make the playoffs later this summer.