O'Fallon Flames Archives

2.13.06 : Flames Continue Hot Streak On The Road

Saturday afternoon the O'Fallon Flames headed south for a late morning tilt with the Webster Groves Griffins. Manager Matt Morice had his Griffins eager to get a result other than the 0-0 draw earlier in the season at The Crematorium. Early pressure in the match came from Webster Groves as the Flames keeper was called upon to make a strong save 4 minutes into the match. Then 2 minutes later the Griffins rung a shot off the far post. "Whenever you're on the road in a hostile environment, you have to survive the opening minutes the best you can." Flames manager Jeff Drake said. "We were fortunate to do so today." The Flames were able find their composure and in the 10th minute found an opening on the right side of the Griffins defense and unleashed a rifle shot that found the upper 90 of the far post giving O'Fallon a 1-0 half-time lead. The Flames continued their well balanced play on both sides of the ball in the second half with a barrage of goals coming in the 23rd, 24th, and 27th minutes and just like that the O'Fallon Flames had secured themselves a 4-0 victory. "Ball possession was the name of our game today." said Drake. "We played strong with the ball and off the ball as well. When you can do both of those for a full 30 minutes you're going to get quality results."

Monday night the Flames traveled to Soulard to take on the Magpies and manager Christian Tragesser for the featured match on Charter Communications' "Monday Night Subbuteo". Before either team had dirt on their jerseys, the Flames stole the opening center-off and found the back of the net in the opening minute of the match. But the Magpies would not falter. Patented strong defense by Soulard kept the Flames from adding to the score sheet throughout the remainder of the first half and in the final minute the Magpies put a well-placed shot by the Flames keeper for a 1-1 tie at the midway point. The second half went back and forth with strong defense from both sides throughout the midfield and shots were hard to come by as a result. With less than 5 minutes remaining, O'Fallon caught a break as the Soulard keeper was caught outside his goal and the Flames took advantage and scored in an empty net and then held on for a hard-earned 2-1 road victory in front of a national television audience. "I think overall we rushed things tonight." Drake said after the match. "We came out and scored in the first minute and I think our guys figured if we continued that quick pace, we'd be in for an easy go of things. As a result, we were coming up just short on too many of our flicks."

With the weekend victories, the Flames have won 6 matches in a row, 8 of their last 9 and maintain their temporary spot in second place in the SLSL standings with only 4 matches left in their regular season.