The town is pretty quiet at the moment, as students come back from Wednesday onwards. I'm sure once the students start to come back during the next though, having some British soccer players in town will go down well.
Some boys took the "get to know the local area" idea a little too literally though. ON his way to do a pick up ready for departure to the game, Coach Walton happened to find Charlie Hancock & Nathan Smith wandering the streets in a state of mild panic & sweating. Upon pulling over, Coach James was told that they "couldn't find their family housing" & had spent the past 30mins running up & down blocks trying to find a familiar sight. This alone would be enough for either/both of them to "earn"them the bum bag of shame, however Nathan made that title his own later in the day. Since he left the hotel on Sunday, he had been worried that an envelope full of his spending money had been lost/stolen. This obviously hampered his purchasing power since. However, he revealed that he had instead left the envelope at home!!
Again the meet time was strictly met by all playing members & we were soon on our way to the large Rochester Institute of Technology campus.
Harvey kicked off their USA Tour on Monday night with a journey north to Rochester to take on National Division 2 side Rochester Institution of Technology. Having trained the previous night at Alfred University after meeting their new families and completing the seven hour drive from Boston to Alfred, the squad were in good stead ahead of the predicted competitive opener. Coaches Stevenson and Walton opted to retain the formation that they had used since the beginning of tour training, 4-2-3-1; which had proved most effective throughout the preparation matches ahead of August 15th. The squad have shown flexibility when called upon, quickly adapting to numerous other systems in experimentation such as 4-4-2 & 4-5-1 in friendlies, at the ask of the management, thanks to the array of versatile players the squad possesses. Having begun pre-tour conditioning and training 7-months back, the coaches would have faced a managerial headache when deciding the eleven players who would take the pitch for the 7:00 kick-off.
The team lined up as follows: Roche, Nelhams, James, Davidson, Brazier, Nunn, Donald, Maffia, Hearmon, Taylor, Taggart.
HGS kicked-off the match after a sharp 30-minute warm up which saw the players break sweat in the 26 degree humid conditions. The team were more than aware of the high physicality the opposition bought to the field, with several early challenges testing their discipline. HGS remained calm however, and began to dictate in midfield, despite being outnumbered by RTI's 3-5-2. Captain Josh Donald and Harry Nunn showcased an impressive partnership, winning headers, second balls and tackles, and on the 12 minute mark Nunn calved the home side's defence in half with a brilliant pass that found forward Ronan Taggart who fired just over.
Following an interchange between Nelhams, Taylor and Taggart down the right flank, Hearmon picked up the ball before finding Taggart again who's shot was saved by the keeper - before Maffia was on site to rebound home, at the second time of asking after his first effort was saved, leading to ecstatic team celebrations.
Harvey took the 0-1 score line into half-time, where they could regroup under further instruction from the team-talk and also get some more fluids on board. By now the sun had set, and the new pitch was proving sticky when dribbling with the ball. RIT were making the most of their large squad, with persistent substitutions throughout the corse of the game. HGS introduced Ansell, Smith and Hobbs for Taggart, Hearmon and Nelhams, and their energy and freshness proved pivotal in the maintained tempo and intensity of the spirited Harvey performance.
The home side became frustrated with their failure to break the outstanding HGS defence, which remained compact, marshalled by the superb James and Davison, who competed for and stopped more less everything Rochester threw at them. James Roche was called into action a couple of times, twice punching away crosses that were goal bound. The majority of the ball in the second half was in the middle of the field where both teams were full blooded in battle, the referee leaving several challenges go unpunished - Brazier, Donald and Nunn consistently performing a series of well timed and hard challenges in combat. Aaron James and Ryan Taylor face a trip to the local dentist tomorrow morning following a clash of heads and an elbow; speaking volumes of the game's competitive and physical environment.
Harvey's electrifying pace on the counter-attack provided a real problem for the Tigers, but HGS couldn't grab a second and kill the game off. Maffia with the best chance of the second half put his shot just wide of the far post on 78 minutes following an incisive pass from Donald. Taylor later failed to get his shot away following a long run up field into the penalty box. Sam Ansell's deflected effort went just over the bar and his temperament was later put to the test after being wiped out a dozen times by the rather clumsy opposition defenders.
A magnificent effort from RIT's number 8, cannoned off of Roche's crossbar in the 90th minute to give Harvey a late scare but they hung on courageously to take their first tour victory back with them an hour and a half South to team HQ, Alfred. The players and management all playing a huge part in a team performance in which everyone could have been proud of, Mr Walton even losing his voice from the touchline shouting instructions.
FT - Rochester Institution of Technology 0-1 Harvey GS
Scorer - Maffia.
Man of the Match - Sammy Davison.
The boys celebrated the result with a 20 minute game of shower bowling, followed by a three minute ice-bath to help remove lactate and keep muscles conditioned for tomorrow's clash with again Division 2 side Kueka College (4:30pm kick-off).
Match Report by Ryan Taylor.
Photo Credit - Coach Chamberlain.
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