Following our tough loss at Boston College, we prepared to take on Columbia at home on Friday night. Playing against Columbia was going to be really meaningful for me. One of my good friends Kofi Agyapong had just transferred to Columbia from Wake Forest. I had played with Kofi since he came over to America from Ghana when he was 16 for Connecticut ODP and briefly at the club level. We had grown to be really good friends, always in contact with each other to see how the other was playing, even if we were on opposite sides of the country.
This game was also important to me because of Kevin Anderson, the head coach of Columbia. When I was a junior in high school, Coach Anderson was the assistant coach at Boston College. He was my coach for one of the prospective college camps I went to during that summer. At the end of the camp, Coach Anderson gave myself and all the other players an evaluation of our ability. That evaluation still hangs on my wall, where he had circled Division 3 substitute as the level he thought I was best suited to play at.
Even though I had started games in the spring and played 70+ minutes against Boston College, this was going to be the first game I’d ever started for Fairfield U. It was a perfect evening for a game, with a slight breeze and a clear sky. Although school had been pushed back until the next week because of Hurricane Irene, there was still a decent crowd of supporters at the match. We started off jittery, not calm and composed as we had against Boston College. I don’t know if it was because we were nervous playing at home for the first time, or if we just weren’t prepared for the game. Columbia pressed us really high up the pitch and didn’t allow us to build out of the back at all. Their best chance to score came when a pass between our two center backs was intercepted and then eventually cleared off the line by Jonny Raj. We still managed to string together a handful of passes and could have gone up 1-0 off a corner, but a Columbia player cleared the ball off the line.
This game was also important to me because of Kevin Anderson, the head coach of Columbia. When I was a junior in high school, Coach Anderson was the assistant coach at Boston College. He was my coach for one of the prospective college camps I went to during that summer. At the end of the camp, Coach Anderson gave myself and all the other players an evaluation of our ability. That evaluation still hangs on my wall, where he had circled Division 3 substitute as the level he thought I was best suited to play at.
Even though I had started games in the spring and played 70+ minutes against Boston College, this was going to be the first game I’d ever started for Fairfield U. It was a perfect evening for a game, with a slight breeze and a clear sky. Although school had been pushed back until the next week because of Hurricane Irene, there was still a decent crowd of supporters at the match. We started off jittery, not calm and composed as we had against Boston College. I don’t know if it was because we were nervous playing at home for the first time, or if we just weren’t prepared for the game. Columbia pressed us really high up the pitch and didn’t allow us to build out of the back at all. Their best chance to score came when a pass between our two center backs was intercepted and then eventually cleared off the line by Jonny Raj. We still managed to string together a handful of passes and could have gone up 1-0 off a corner, but a Columbia player cleared the ball off the line.
Kofi was playing up top as a forward, but was frequently dropping into the midfield to find the ball. Because I had played with him for such a long time, I knew everything that he was going to try to do. He loves to nutmeg players and cut past them once they’ve dived in to win the ball. He would find the ball in the center of the park, wait for one of our aggressive players to dive in, and then cut past him and run at our back four. Although Kofi was quite effective at this, Columbia did not really have a clear-cut opportunity to score, other then the ball that was cleared off the line. Then around the 25th minute, Columbia found the back of the net after a corner that was cleared straight to one of their players at the top of the box. The striker took a touch and shot it off of the leg of our center back and into the penalty spot. The Columbia attacking midfielder found it and coolly slotted it in off the inside of the post. Now we had to chase the game.
Unlike Boston College when we went down a goal and responded with an equalizer, I think we panicked from the pressure of knowing we were expected to win at home. We suddenly forgot to play to feet and began to play everything over the top. With the slick grass, all these passes went straight to the Columbia goalkeeper. For the rest of the game, we struggled to create any chances except from corners. Columbia came in with a solid game plan and executed it well. We never really did enough to say we deserved to win the game.
Our team is currently getting ready to play Northeastern on Saturday night. We missed two games this past weekend against Hartwick and Robert Morris due to severe rain in New York, so it will have been two weeks since our last game. Hopefully we are able to go up to Boston and this time come back with a good result.
Unlike Boston College when we went down a goal and responded with an equalizer, I think we panicked from the pressure of knowing we were expected to win at home. We suddenly forgot to play to feet and began to play everything over the top. With the slick grass, all these passes went straight to the Columbia goalkeeper. For the rest of the game, we struggled to create any chances except from corners. Columbia came in with a solid game plan and executed it well. We never really did enough to say we deserved to win the game.
Our team is currently getting ready to play Northeastern on Saturday night. We missed two games this past weekend against Hartwick and Robert Morris due to severe rain in New York, so it will have been two weeks since our last game. Hopefully we are able to go up to Boston and this time come back with a good result.
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