Kickers shut out by Rangers-Carman Valley Leader

Rangers capitalize en route to win
By Gene StillFriday July 15, 2005

— The Carman Kickers were happy to actually get to play a game on July 6. But that relief was dampened somewhat – and not by heavy rainfall – instead it was the host Rangers who proved to be unwelcome hosts. Kickers’ assistant coach Mike VanderVelde said it was a good feeling to be able to hit the field again following a two-week layoff.“It was quite nice to just be able to play a game,” VanderVelde said. “But even then, the field was not in ideal condition with a pretty big water puddle on a piece of it.” The host team from Winnipeg didn’t make things any easier for the visiting squad from Carman as they attempted to take the play to them in the early stages of the game. “For the first ten minutes we were back on our heels a bit,” VanderVelde said. “They came out very aggressive and we tried to match that. And we did, for most of the opening half.” But it didn’t pay off on the scoreboard as the Rangers made it 1-0 with just under ten minutes remaining in the opening half when they scored on a corner kick. Despite falling behind, Carman didn’t get discouraged and came out a little stronger, especially during the early portion of the final frame. “The second half, we showed signs of improvement and were able to mount more of an offensive attack and had some scoring chances,” VanderVelde said. But failing to take advantage proved costly to Carman as midway through the final half, an unintentional poorly kicked ball by the Rangers, ended up fooling every one and landed in the Kickers’ net behind goaltender Rich Vanderveen. “It was kind of a ‘knuckleball’ that just floated over our defense and over Rich,” VanderVelde said. The Rangers held on the rest of the way to emerge with a 2-0 shutout victory. While they may have lost on the final scoreboard, VanderVelde said he saw a lot of encouraging signs from the Kickers. “We were pretty happy with our defensive effort overall, and we showed some offensive flair,” he said. “We just need more consistency on offense.” The loss dropped the Kickers record to below .500 at 2-3.Kickers’ update: Carman was tentatively set to host Ragnarok on Friday, July 15 at the collegiate soccer field.back