2019 Premier Postgame Week 3

BDSL Premier Postgame Week 3

Clarence (2-0-0) 2 - Sharpshooters (2-0-0) 2
Both squads came into the BDSL Rumors Premier Game of the Week unbeaten.  Amherst Sharpshooters beat Southtowns and Willies, while Clarence beat both Wolves and BSC International.  Clarence lost starting GK Len Private to a red card against BSC International, leaving manager Mike Antkowiak to take over in net.
We spoke with a representative from Clarence Coyotes first: 

"Tough/grind it out kind of game for us. Sharpshooters are young and great on the ball. They could have had a couple more goals. We packed it in and tried to counter them with 5 key players missing with injures/vacation/FC Buffalo." 

Who was your best player?

"Antkowiak played great in goal for never playing before. Berardi was great on both goals. AC and Kenny played there hearts out at CB."

Who stood out for Amherst?

"Cody Rouse was fantastic for them and Zack Schmitz" 

You guys have been great so far this season. Will you be able to keep it up the rest of the way? 

"We will be in every game all season. We have a great team mentality this year then some years in the past." 

Amherst Sharpshooters had a similar take on the game:

"We had a lot of possession and created a lot of chances but our finishing was poor. Ahead 2-0 in the 88th min we should’ve come away with 3 points. Very disappointing result."

Who was your best player?

"Schmidt has a goal and assist for us. Riley Wagner played well in his first game. Braun and Martinez played well at CB."

Did anybody stand out for Clarence?

"Berardi almost singlehandedly managed to steal a point for Clarence. Kowi made a few good saves to keep them in the game."

You guys have been great so far this season.  Will you be able to keep it up the rest of the way?

"We’ve played okay, but our finishing has been off. We have quite a few new players this year so I think it’s just taking a little time for the chemistry to click in the final third. I think we’ll improve as the season goes along. I think it’s just taking a little time to get settled and get used to playing together."

Our Take: 
3 weeks into the season it seems like both squads will be contenders.  Amherst has gotten young legs in their squad, while Clarence seems to be finding the continuity that has helped them be successful in the Premier Division for many years.

Does Amherst have a player that can put in goals regularly like Brodfuehrer, Loncar, and Steele have in previous seasons?
Will Clarence continue to have a full squad every week, or will the season eventually wear on them?


Lackawanna FCY (2-0-0) 5 - Southtowns FPFC (0-2-0) 1

Lackawanna FCY has come out of the gates on fire, leading the league in goals for with 7, while Southtowns FPFC has struggled mightily, going without a point in the first two weeks of the season.  Unfortunately for Southtowns FPFC, it didn't get any better for them this week as they ran into BDSL's Premier buzzsaw.

We spoke with Southtowns first:

"Lackawanna is a very good team . they move the ball well and are extremely dangerous going forward, easily the best team that we have played against so far."

Who was your best player?

"our goalkeeper Ralph Grizanti believe it or not played rather well and make a couple of big saves early to keep it within reach"

Who stood out for Lackawanna?

"not one player really stood out from the rest because truthfully they are very well balanced but there absolute unit of a cb was very good and they had a very good tall white cam which i don’t know the number of."

Last week you guys said your previous results didn’t indicate the quality of your team. Do you still believe that or was Lackawanna just that good?

"Lackawanna is a very good side but i don’t believe that the score line reflects the kind of club we are. we are in a tough spot right now and we just need to dig out of it week by week"

Lackawanna FCY manager Taha Omar had nothing but praise for his squad after another impressive showing.

"the movement of last night game was fast , aggressive and intense from both teams, we were more organized and we settled into our style of play early ,our movement with the ball was great starts from our back line to midfield to offense, we capitalized on our scoring chance , our D were unbelievable .Southtown at moments they looked as if the finally found their team play but then they lose it quickly, they are young , fast and aggressive and they played hard to the end"

Who was your best player?

" its hard to say who was our best player , all players in all positions did great job. If I really have to pick a player it would be Zakaria because of the three goals ."

Did anybody stand out for SFPFC?

"Kabura Elias"

You guys have been great so far this season. Will you be able to keep it up the rest of the way?

"we are jelling together as a team our chemistry and fitness is getting better every game , if we stay healthy and the players show up on game day we will be able to keep it going and compete with top teams in our division that we will play in the coming weeks ."

Do you think SFPFC has what it takes to stay in Premier or do you think they are in trouble?

"Southtown FPFC have to make some adjustments to their style of play and must find couple of players to help them moving forward. BDSL Premier Division requires a settled style play and experience leadership on the field to survive relegation."

Our Take: 
This game was a tale of two teams headed in two opposite directions.  Lackawanna FCY had come out red hot, while SFPFC has come out ice cold.  The score line seems to accurately reflect each clubs season so far.

Can Southtowns FPFC be active during the transfer window and find some players to vault them from the relegation battle?
Will the issues that Lackawanna FCY have faced in previous years resurface? Will they deal with attendance and leadership issues, or is this the year that they put it all together and challenge for top of the league?   Will Zakaria Shaibi be this years Ali Shawish?


Celtic United (0-1-0) 4 - Queenston FC (0-1-1) 1

Celtic United has always had the roster, on paper, to keep up with any team in the Premier division.  They seem to struggle with numbers and end up lower than their potential.  Queenston FC is usually the opposite.  While player for player they may not win the league, they are always consistent and stout defensively, keeping them in games.  This week however, Celtic United lived up to their potential, while Queenston struggled to get going.
Our representative from Queenston FC shared his/her thoughts from yesterdays loss to United:

"Celtic United beat us in every phase of the game. They’re extremely dangerous when they bring a full team (I think they had 17 yesterday)."

Who was your best player?

"Our best player was probably Ross Suitor again. We had more dud than stud performers yesterday."

How about for Celtic United?

"They played a really good team game so no one in particular stood out because they all contributed well. I’d say maybe Myles Taylor stood out the most but they all did their thing"

You guys haven’t performed well compared to last season so far. What can we expect from Queenston the rest of the way?

"Not sure. We started slow last year too (0-1-2) and finished 6-1-1 down the stretch so we are hoping it’s a little bit of finding our footing. We could easily blame this on a lack of normal impact players being available (two defensive starters return from out of the Country in Week 5) but most teams deal with some level of attendance problems. And it’s really not even that; we have bodies at games. Something just feels off still this season, so we are tempering expectations for the time being until we play better collectively. It’s like 11 guys are on the field all thinking of a different plan moving the ball forward, and we are giving up the ball to easily in the wrong spots on the field."

Celtic United shared their thoughts with us after a strong showing:

" In addition to making some key tactical / lineup changes, we finally all played pretty well together. Queenston seemed to be a bit unorganized in the back, causing our attackers to have dozens of chances in first half. Netter did a good job had made some tremendous saves to keep the score line close"

Who was your best player?

"Was tough to narrow down to a single best player, as multiple guys played solid. Wiatrowski and Myles were very strong for us in the back, and have to give Keller an accolade as he had a brace"

Did anybody stand out for Queenston?

"Netter - as aforementioned he made several tremendous saves to keep them in the game."

 Is yesterday’s team more of what we should expect from you guys this season?

"Absolutely - I think we will continue to get stronger since we’ve added so many new players this season, we are finally beginning to click. From the first minute we appeared a much better side than the previous week."

Our Take: 
Another tale of two teams headed in opposite directions.  While defense has always been a strong point for Queenston FC, they seem to be struggling to maintain their form from previous seasons.  We have them fighting for their Premier lives, but we think they are better than their current record.  Celtic United is so hard to judge.  They have the talent, but not the commitment.  We are looking forward to their reschedule against BSC Raiders to see what team we can expect week to week.

Will anybody from Queenston step up and score some goals?  Can Queenston's experienced players step up and help get things moving?
Is this Celtic United team a top 6 team, or are they just outside looking in?  Is this the year that their leadership gets a consistent product on the pitch? 


BUSS (0-1-1) 0 - Willies (1-0-1) 0

BUSS, which may be the most disappointing club so far this season, only earning 1 point in 2 games, has struggled off the block, while Williamsville Willies seem to be enjoying their second season in Premier.  Both teams came into the game having only scored one goal in the first two games.  After the game, both teams had the same goals for as the game finished 0-0.
We caught up with Williamsville Willies first:

"I thought we controlled most of the game. Just could not put our chances away."

Who was your best player?

"I’d say our best players were our defense. They handled their offensive threats really well and really gave them no chances."

Did anybody stand out for BUSS?

" For BUSS Sherman was a threat as always. But their GK is who stood out. I don’t think it was their normal keeper but he shut us down."

You guys seem to be performing much better than last season, what do you account this to?

"Our off season pickups are the biggest reason why we have improved. We went out and looked for guys that would grind and play anywhere on the pitch. Everyone is settling in nicely and working hard"

You guys seem to have trouble putting the ball away. Do you think that will change throughout the season?

"Ben Noel will be coming back to play for us and him along with Fleck up top I think we will start to bag goals. If that doesn’t work I will just have to go out there and score the goals myself."

Our representative from BUSS had a fairly similar view of the game:

"We were not very good yesterday.  In fact we haven't been good at all this season.  We have points in the game where we look like ourselves, but then we miss that one connecting pass and have to start all over again.  We have been hit hard by the injury bug this summer.  5 of our "starters" have yet to see the field.  Our games this year have been mostly our veterans.  It just really sucks because we know we are better than we have played.  But I promise we will be better. 

Willies were pretty solid though.  They definitely had the better of us in the first half, by far.  We were trying a new formation and they ate us up.  Once we moved back to our normal formation, with wingers, we got the game back a bit.  Second half I feel like we were the better team but we couldn't find our way in the final third.  They moved the ball well in the midfield and their defense was strong.  Picking up Graham Harris was a great move for them.  He is just really strong and did pretty well with our forwards.  I was impressed by them for sure.  I think they will be much better than last year. 

Who was your best player?

"Hands down it was Tim Clark in goal.  He saved us a bunch of times with some very difficult saves.  I remember at least 2 near breakaways and a point blank shot he somehow got his right hand on to knock wide.  He was good on corners and free kicks as well.  Andre had an incredible game as well.  You would think he was the tallest guy on the field at times, winning headers over taller forwards.   Christian was good in the midfield."

Did anybody stand out for Willies?

"They had a couple guys that I really liked.  #9 Ian Harris was good and composed on the ball.  As I mentioned before, Graham was tough to beat.  He had a couple great battles with Hunter Sherman.  I love watching those guys fight each other for the ball.  Their other CB was good too."

Where does BUSS go from here?  If the season ended right now you guys would miss the playoffs and would be fighting relegation.

"It's a good thing we have a lot more season to go then.  Listen, we are not performing well, that's a given.  But we are still one of the top teams in Premier.  We have been missing some key players all season.  Musse, Hunter Walsh, Wes, Nate, Bryce, none of those guys have played a game with us yet.  We will be better."

Our Take: 
Willies have been good.  Their additions have made them a much stronger team.  We don't quite think they are there yet, but definitely a team to keep an eye on.  An attacker with a nose for goal would be a great addition during the transfer window.  We put them in the middle of the table, safe from relegation.  BUSS is still a dangerous team.  They may have lost a bit compared to previous years, but the roster is still top notch.  We think they finish right around 5-7 in the league.

As with Queenston, can Willies start scoring goals and putting teams away?  Teams with young rosters tend to have attendance issues by the end of the season.  Can they win a couple games they maybe shouldn't and surprise the league?
Can BUSS' injured players get them back to form.  Will the return of some of their players solve whatever issues they have on the field? Are the older guys on BUSS getting too old for Premier?
 

Pendleton United (0-1-1) 0 - BSC Raiders (1-0-0) 3

League and Tehel Cup Champions from Summer 2018 were able to find their form late in the game to dispatch of newly promoted Pendleton United.  
Pendleton United had this to say:

"Pretty even first half, they had some players late from the FC Buffalo match, which helped them get the late winner. Obviously they’re the cream of the crop but we didn’t look terrible. Also, one of the most unclassy teams we’ve played."

Who was your best player?

" our entire back line"

Did anybody stand out for BSC?

" Ryan Walter. also his dad taught half of our team at starpoint. (fun fact)."

It hasn’t been a good start for you guys so far this summer. Can you guys find your form soon? Or do you think you just ran into a couple really good teams?

"we’ve definitely ran into good teams. Last two games we’ve found our footing in the league. expect Yemen to be a top 4 team this year and obviously BSC is a class above everyone else. our first half of the season is incredibly difficult, so we have to focus on finishing the second half of the season well."

Once again, BSC Raiders are the only team without a twitter account, so we have no responses from them.

Our Take: 
Pendleton United has done about what this writer has expected.  They may have even done better than expected against two of the better teams this season.  We are interested to find out how they fare against a team like Wolves or Celtic United.  We still think they will end up rounding out the bottom three clubs and will have to fight tooth and nail to escape relegation.

Can the mighty lions of Pendleton claw their way out of relegation?  Will they continue to get decent numbers to each game?
Will BSC Raiders ever get with the times and get a twitter account to answer our questions?
 

BSC International (0-1-1) 4 - Wolves (1-1-0) 1

In what would seem to be a bit of an upset, BSC International handled Wolves on the back of 3 goals from Mo Hussien.

"We returned to our usual formation after positioning errors against Clarence and it paid off. The game played even through the first 45, with the difference being our first goal, which came from pressing their back line. Wolves’ defensive line was pushed up high, which created a lot of chances on the counter. Ultimately we beat them with speed on simple through balls. I’m betting they feel a lot like we did after Clarence; game plan broke down."

Who was your best player?

"Mo or Jenaro. Both were essential for the win and they had a hand in all of the goals."

Did anybody stand out for Wolves?

"Not great on names but their left wing was dangerous throughout the game."

Who are you guys? Are you the team that controlled BUSS and beat up on wolves? Or the team that was handled by Clarence? What should we expect from BSC Inter?

"We are both. We know we are playing for survival rather than trophies, and that requires us to be more strategic with the lineup/formation and pick our times getting forward carefully. The execution hasn’t been consistent, and in this division that can result in a 3 goal swing. The important thing is that we have grabbed the points we were looking for out of then first 3 games and our offense is getting more dangerous."

 Wolves did not have much to add today:

"We played like (expletive deleted)"

Who was your best player?

'Kyle Kleckner"

Did anybody stand out for BSC Inter?

"Mo Hussein"

A disappointing result for you guys yesterday. Are you guys inconsistent or would you consider it growing pains for the club?

"We just didn’t execute/ made a plethora of dumb mistakes."

Thanks, anything else you would like to add?

"No"

Our Take: 
BSC International is hard to pin down.  The addition of Hussein has helped their offense, and the defense was able to control Wolves.  We need a few more games to predict where they will end up.  Wolves had a great game last week against Southtowns, but they are bottom of the table.  We see them finishing middle of the pack, not really in the relegation battle.

Which BSC International team can we see week in and week out?  Is it the team that stopped BUSS and Wolves?  Or the team that was beaten soundly by Clarence?
Wolves are in the same boat.  Are they the team that throttled Southtowns?  Or the team that played BSC International and Clarence?

 

That's a wrap on Week 3 of BDSL Premier Postgame.  Enjoy the holiday next weekend!

 

2019 Premier Postgame Week 2

Week 2 BDSL Premier Postgame

Willies(1-0-0) 0 - Sharpshooters (1-0-0) 1

In a battle of two of the winning teams of week 1, Sharpshooters were able to come out strong in the second half and hand Willies their first loss of the season.

"First half was a little scrappy and ugly. Both teams were fairly short handed. Second half we settled in and controlled possession" a representative from Amherst told us.

"Derek Bartlo had an excellent game at holding midfield. Kyle Hofschneider was also very dangerous 1v1 and earned a PK. Z. Schwartz had a very good game filling in at RB and scored the winner."

When asked who stood out for Willies, the Sharpshooters Twitter account manager said:

"I thought their CB pair of G. Harris and J. Retzer were solid and J. Bonetto up top was dangerous."

Do you think Willies are good enough to stay up in Premier?

"Yeah I actually think they may be a playoff team. They were missing their Mercyhurst guys and were solid even without them." 

No representative from Willies was available for a comment...they didn't return our tweet.


Clarence (1-0-0) 5 - BSC International (0-0-1) 1

Two of the most surprising teams in week one were Clarence and BSC International.  Clarence took out 2018 playoff team, Wolves, while BSC International were able to keep 2018 playoff team, BUSS, to a lone tally, via PK.

"We controlled most of the play yesterday. I’d say possession was 70-30 us. They did receive 2 pks chances but I thought both were 50/50 calls. We scored some beautiful goals on set pieces and crosses into the box." the Clarence twitter rep told us.

BSC International were unable to score on either of the two pk's they drew, with the first going over and the second saved by emergency reserve keeper Eaton.

Starting keeper LP1 was sent off for taking down BSC International striker Mohamed Hussein in the box, forcing Ryan Eaton to man the goal for the rest of the game.

When asked about BSC International's defense, our Clarence representative said:

"Big and physical but couldn’t handle our pace and quick off the ball movement. We used the width against them all game."

Who was your best player?

"Ryan Eaton, Chris Berardi and JJ Hughes"

Did anybody stand out for BSC International?

"Ameya deshpande was there top player"

No representative from BSC International was available to respond to us.


 BUSS (0-0-1) 0 - BSC Raiders (0-0-0) 2

This match featured two of the perennial powerhouses of the BDSL Premier division.  Both teams had a shortened roster due to FC Buffalo's trip to Germany.   

A representative from BUSS said:

"We came in with 13 guys but lost Kyle Clifford within 2 minutes of kickoff with an ankle injury. Hammer has been fighting a groin injury for a while and went out at halftime. Luckily Andre showed up before half and filled in well for him in the second half. We lost Al and Nate as they both came down with the flu/sicknesses in the days leading up to the game.  Mo Channer and Musse were both injured as well so we didn't really have many options." 

"I would say that BSC probably had more of the possession but weren't able to generate many solid chances.  Their defense was strong though and held us to only a couple chances ourselves.  Bobby scored a goal in the final 10 minutes but it was called back by the ref because he blew the whistle for a foul right before it went in.  They scored both of their goals on PK's."

"BSC played as they normally do, complaining and constantly berating the referee. I don’t know how they can deal with those guys.  Mermigas was especially vulgar.""

Where do you guys go from here, only earning 1 point in two games so far?

"I'm not sure honestly.  We seem to be missing something right now.  I think the Hunters are the glue that keep us moving up top.  It has been tough without them.  But we get both guys back this week, along with Wes, who is back from studying abroad.  Hopefully we can put some balls in the net this weekend."

Who played well for you?

"I'll always answer this question with the same guy, Polo.  He was really strong Sunday.  Andre filled in well at CB, and I thought Neil played great filling in at CM."

And how about for BSC?

"Rudy was a menace as always, Evan had a pretty solid game as well.  He toasted one of our defenders to earn a Pk.

BSC Raiders do not have a team twitter page so we assume they will never be able to give us their opinions.
 Wolves (0-1-0) 3 - Southtowns FPFC (0-1-0) 0

Both teams came in to this game with a 1 in the loss column from the previous week.

Our representative from Wolves responded first:

"Game started off a bit slow. Still adjusting to all the new guys, but we ended up getting there closer to the end of the first half. Second half we came out with a little more intensity"

"Dugan cashed in off a corner from Richards. Second was a long ball picked out by Terp to C. Griffiths, who played Vuc down the left wing and he lofted one to the back side netting. Vuc then had it on the left side of the box and saw Dugan’s run to the top of the six and he rolled it in. We saw it out from there."

Who was your best player?

"I’ll give a shout out to everyone. We’re still figuring out how to play with each other, but it’s definitely looking up."

Did anybody stand out for SFPFC?

"Oh I meant to say josh Barker stood for southtowns."

Our Southtowns FPFC rep seemed to have a different view:

"We played much better then the score line reflected. We had more possession on the ball and created more quality opportunities. Colin Archibald and seba both had good chances in front of net but couldn’t convert. Ralph grizanti has a couple clutch saves and josh barker played really good at cb but unfortunately the wolves scored all the goals of crosses."

Did anybody stand out for Wolves?

"Number 99 (Dugan) on their team stood out, we had no match for his height so he controlled a lot of their game moving forward with crosses being sent in to him and with him playing the ball on to other forwards using his head."

Do you think Wolves will be able to compete for top of the league?

"I don’t think they will perform against the top teams. Their play is too simplistic and they’re defensive positioning is poor. Any team in the league can beat them on their day."

What do you say to those who have predicted you guys to be bottom of the league?  Can you prove them wrong?

"I’m sure we will prove them wrong. Our first week we kept the sharpshooter to two goals and other than a penalty and a miss hit cross we shut them down on the ball. We are a strong team who don’t get the credit we deserve. This weeks result is not indicative of how the rest of the season will go. That’s a promise."

Celtic United(0-0-0) 1 - Lackawanna FCY (1-0-0) 3

Lackawanna FCY had a strong week 1, easily taking town Pendleton United, while Celtic United was forced to reschedule their game against 2018 league and Tehel Cup champions BSC Raiders.

Faress from Lackawanna FCY spoke with us:

"Yemen controlled most of the first half and had better chances especially in the first half. The game started to get chippy near the end. Sammy the keeper stood on his head saving 2 pks during the game."

"We were missing alot of key players especially on Defense."

"I can tell you one thing. Zac Shaibi and Abdullahi Hussein amazing tandem. Zac and very shifty and cuts on a dime. You will hear alot about him this season."

What happened to earn both teams a sending off?

"Red card at the final minutes of the game to our keeper Sammy for retaliation for what he felt was an elbow to his head on a corner kick.  I think Sam Greco got the other red."

How were your opponents?

"Celtic will definitely win games, i would not count them out. I just feel the team is deep this season and playing as a team right out of the gate.  Celtic United had many shots at the net, most eaten by the keeper and a few just inches wide."

Did anybody stand out from Celtic United?

 "Alex Reid and the keeper. Alex Reid is a force, without him, not many shots on net. And thier keeper i think Nick, made crazy saves especially point blank and one i thought should have went in."

We were unable to reach anybody from Celtic United for a comment.


Queenston (0-1-0) 1 - Pendleton United (0-1-0) 1

With both teams taking a loss in week 1 of the BDSL season, week 2 was pivotal for each team to get things rolling.

We spoke with a Queenston rep first:

"...so both teams were missing a handful of impactful players, but we ended up having 15 guys play to their 11. So we were upset with the result, all things considered. I commend them for going a full 90 without a sub. They stayed very organized. We missed some halfway decent chances but they actually limited our good looks to be honest.  

We think they did an admirable job to get a point but obviously we were disappointed not to get a game winner. I don’t think we necessarily deserved it, but I think we probably should have gotten it one way or another, if that makes sense"

Who was your best player?

"Our best player was Ross Suitor who also registered our lone tally; phenomenal strike, one of the best I’ve ever seen in person. He hit it from probably 35 yards out. A frozen rope into the top left corner of the net"

Did anybody stand out for your opponent?

"Their best player on the field was Matt Pickard, who normally plays defense but slid into a DCM role yesterday. He snuffed out a lot of our buildup which made our threats on goal less frequent or altered what we preferred to do. Mike Juszczak also stood out as a keeper. He’s a keeper by trade, as he was headed to UB for that position until they folded the program. For BDSL he usually plays center back but again for personnel reasons they slid him to keeper, which I think actually hurt us.  It hurt us because he had complete command of the box. No indecision when coming out for a ball and he barked orders to keep his team’s shape right, which I think also helped them thwart our offensive chances, which were coming often late in the second half as they expectedly started running out of gas."

Do you think Pendleton United has what it takes to stay in the Premiership?

"Umm I’m not sure. If they get more numbers they can probably steal a point here or there and they should at least get one win against Southtowns. Southtowns might be the worst premier roster I’ve actually ever seen. Yesterday’s game felt more like a relegation battle then a playoff battle. So I’d say Pendleton will be in the mix for relegation and if we continue to play the way we have thus far (not terrible, but no where near good), then we will be as well."

Our representative from Pendleton United kept his responses short and to the point:

"For having 11 men, the heart out of our mighty lions took care of business and came out and dominated the 1st half. We ended up getting 1 point which was a good result.

Best player was Kevin Loftus, he is a stellar CB."

And how about for your opponents?

"Only standout from their team is Ross Suitor, they look in trouble this season"

Thats a wrap on our coverage of Week 2 of the 2019 BDSL Summer season.  Good luck to all the teams next week.