Young Indians Drop Another Tough Match

On a cold, wet, home field Tuesday, the Indians fell 7-0 to the Frankford Pioneers and to 0-6 on the season.

The Pioneers—whose red, yellow, and blue striped jerseys gave them the aspect of busboys at Medieval Times—opened scoring on a long, looping kick from around midfield. They added their second goal not long afterward when Indian Joe Smoot scored on his own goal.

"I kicked the ball, and it went backwards. Then it went passed Nino [Nunez] and into the net. And I got taken out," Smoot said from the sideline.

Frankford added another score on a long dribble-run-cross-kick sequence, each stage of which was handled by a lone Pioneer. They then scored twice more before the half ended, though neither goal was distinguished by anything other than the ease with which it was scored.

The Indians themselves were impressed by their opponent's ball skills. "Oh man. Wow!" exclaimed a pocket of Roxborough defenders as a Pioneer wove through them with the ball.

On their next possession, the Indians broke into Pioneer territory and managed to earn a penalty kick by virtue of getting knocked into the mud. The kick was a rocket but it clanked off the home-sideline crossbar and out of play. It was exciting though, and given that it was the last play of the half it sent the Indians to the water cooler in high spirits.

And it carried over to the second half. Sort of.

The Indians defense played stoutly for much of the second and were backstopped expertly by goalie Ben Gryga. They also nearly scored on a Chris Paulfield break away, but his centering pass was missed by an open teammate. That was their last, best, chance to get on the board.

Frankford managed two late goals, the latter of which was nearly saved by Gryga, and the match ended with the Indians seven in the hole.

According to Indian utility-man Mike Morrow, they showed improvement in the game. The score just hasn't caught up.

"We were handling the ball really well, and we have been making a lot of improvement," Morrow said.

Coach Mark Dumsha added that he was pleased with the play of Gryga, who defended the net for the entirety of the second period.

"He did a really good job today," he said.