The moment the teams walked onto the field, the rain started coming down and didn’t really let up the whole way through the match. With less than 12,000 fans in attendance for a Saturday game, the atmosphere was about as tense as the early play by both sides. For the first 15-20 minutes RSL looked like they would have an uphill climb to get even a tie in this game as DCU was more composed and seemed to break up any RSL attack as fast as they started. I found it odd that they would then, more often than not, play a long ball to their forwards even though they had a numerical advantage in the middle. This allowed RSL to get possession back and start their attack over again.
DCU settled down before too long and notched the first goal at the 38th minute mark on a beautiful cross from Chris Pontius that looked to be heading straight to Nat Borchers for an easy clearance. Luciano Emilio somehow managed to step in front of Borchers and headed the ball down, beating Nick Rimando who was up in the air expecting a higher/harder shot. That shot would prove to be one of the few chances that DC would get in the first half, and the only one on frame.
Meanwhile, Real dominated the attack, getting several chances in the early going and managing to strike back two minutes later. Jamison Olave muscled his way into the box, and with a header on a great cross by Will Johnson, beat DCU’s keeper Louis Crayton. It was a shot that left DCU stunned and got the crowd fired up and into the game for the first time, rain or not. It was also the first of two assists for Robbie Findley, who was credited with a secondary assist for feeding the ball to Johnson.
The fans had plenty to jeer about up to that point, as referee Kevin Stott seemed to be behind the play too often and RSL players were punished for it. He awarded three yellow cards to different Real players in the first half that seemed fairly harsh, and at the same time let DCU get away with some rough treatment going the other direction. The second half saw him rectify a lot of those calls by swallowing his whistle for the most part for both sides. He did manage to equalize the card discrepancy though, awarding DCU three yellow cards of their own.
With the rainy conditions and the ref not making much of an effort to keep up with the run of play, the second half turned into a very ugly game of soccer. Players from both sides got into it a bit, including Mathis who was busy jawing back and forth with Clyde Simms when he was replaced by Ned Grabavoy. It was the second sub Jason would make after deciding to go for a win in the 59th minute and subbing in Raphael Cox for the more defensive-minded Tony Beltran. Cox played well in his first home game, getting down the side regularly to put pressure on the DCU back line. He did force some things and make a few bad passes, but overall he had a good showing for a rookie. The third and final RSL sub was Andy Williams, who came on in the 89th minute to help kill off the game.
Before that could happen though, Real needed another goal, and after several near misses they finally got it on a strike that probably never would have happened on a dry day. The wet conditions played to Javier Morales’ advantage as he managed to literally slide one in and put RSL on top for good. After that, all Real needed to do was kill the clock and they did it well with Rimando waiting to pick up the ball until directly pressured and plenty of time-wasting throw-ins created by kicking the ball off DCU players. With that going on, the final whistle finally blew and all that was left was for the players to hit the locker rooms wet and cold, but very happy.
-Truhlk
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