Date
November 4, 2007
Participants
Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith
Report
By Kevin Nieman
Round 10 of the Maricopa Cup began with Wayne Smith’s triumphant arrival in his new purple Osnabrück jersey to match his freshly painted, purple Osnabrück figures. Wayne’s inaugural match with his new team was against Kevin Nieman’s Italy National Team on the Rookery Pitch.
After a fairly even 0-0 tie at the half, Wayne wound up defeated Kevin, 2-0.
After the match, Wayne said, “Italy’s defense was very stingy, and I found it very tough to get through.” Jokingly, he added, “They had very good scouting.”
When asked to describe the match, Kevin responded, “Wayne’s new team played very well in the second half despite some really nice flicks of my own.”
Meanwhile, on the Drey Pitch, it was another classic derby between the Hutchinsons, Dominic versus Simon. After another scoreless first half, Simon said, “I just could not control my offense.”
However, Simon recovered to score two goals to secure the win over Dominic, 2-0.
When pressed for a comment, Dominic said, “It was a good game, but I was over-flicking my figures.”
Simon offered this explanation for his win. “Dominic kept making gaps in his defense that allowed me to score,” Simon said.
The second round of matches got under way with Simon versus Kevin on the Rookery Pitch. It was a match of some significance since this was Kevin Nieman’s 150th match in the SCSC.
The first half ended in a scoreless draw. The second half, however, was dominated by Simon, as he scored the only goal in the match. Simon held onto win, 1-0, and Kevin was clearly disappointed.
“I wish I had made my 150th match a special one with a win,” Kevin said, “but Simon’s defense held me back.”
Simon commented, “I’m relieved to have won. Sorry, but I couldn’t give him a win for his 150th game.”
Back on the Drey Pitch, it was the purple-clad Wayne versus the blue and white-clad Dominic using the Maricopa Rules. The first half was a high-scoring affair, ending 2-1 in Wayne’s favor.
Dominic commented on his goal against Wayne by saying, “It was a pretty good goal.”
In the second half, Wayne could only muster one more goal, and the match ended 3-1 in Wayne’s favor.
“Dominic is now getting very competitive when we use the Maricopa Rules,” Wayne said. “In one stretch, it took me ten flicks to get from one quarter-line to the next. Dominic was making very good defensive flicks.”
Dominic said, matter-of-factly, “I know how to keep him [Wayne] distracted so he doesn’t play well, but I felt I could have done better.”
The next round began with Simon versus Wayne on the Drey Pitch. In the 7th minute, Wayne scored on Simon. However, in a typical show of SCSC honesty, Wayne called a foul on himself, which immediately wiped away the goal. Two full halves of flicking failed to put either man on the board, and it ended in a 0-0 tie.
“I was on sustained pressure for large parts of the game, “Simon said, “as Wayne pushed all of his figures forward, save for three or four figures. It was a hard game, but a fair result.”
Wayne shook his head and said, “I didn’t think so. Simon’s marking was excellent. Also, on three or four chances, I hit Simon’s keeper in the chest.”
The next match pitted Kevin versus Dominic on the Rookery Pitch using Maricopa Rules. The first half’s scoring contained a goal by Kevin as he rocketed the ball into the lower left of Dominic’s goal net. The half ended with Kevin up 1-0. Kevin scored yet another goal in the second half, seeming to indicate a more lopsided match.
This was not the case.
Kevin made a serious mistake in his own end, which left Dominic with a prime opportunity to score, which he did in fine fashion. The match ended 2-1 in Kevin’s favor, but Dominic’s goal was the talk of the match.
“Kevin made a mistake and I capitalized on it,” Dominic said, shrugging his shoulders.
Kevin remarked, “Dominic’s good flicking and the Maricopa Rules combine to make him a tough man to beat. His goal against me is proof that he can defeat you if you give him the opportunity.”
At this point, Dominic bowed out for the evening, and the remaining three played three additional matches.
Wayne defeated Kevin 3-0 on the Drey Pitch, and he said, “That was the toughest 3-0 win I’ve ever had. It was a strain breaking down Kevin’s defense. The SCSC gets harder to score every week.”
In the next match, Simon and Kevin frustrated each other to a 0-0 draw, also on the Drey Pitch.
“I was almost totally shut down by Simon’s defensive flicks,” Kevin said. “His flicks blocked me out completely.”
Simon was equally baffled. “I cannot believe how many moves would have ended up as a shot on goal that I wasted.” Simon continued. “I’m glad I frustrated Kevin so he didn’t score.”
In the last match of the evening, Wayne defeated Simon on the Rookery Pitch, 4-0, which was Wayne’s only “mercy-rule” win of the day. Wayne felt that the pitch was the difference.
“On the Drey Pitch, I had a terrible time,” Wayne began. “Simon’s marking there was extremely tight, but on the Rookery, he missed those flicks.”
Simon agreed with Wayne’s pitch assessment, but was still none-too-pleased with the mercy-ruling. “I’m very disappointed. I feel my defense let me down. This pitch is definitely to Wayne’s liking.”
Final table
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 14 |
| 2 | Simon Hutchinson | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 11 |
| 3 | Kevin Nieman | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 8 |
| 4 | Dominic Hutchinson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 3 |
Results
A four goal mercy rule was used in all games
v - Used Maricopa Vase rules
| Simon Hutchinson | 2 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson v | Drey |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman | Rookery |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson v | Drey |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman | Rookery |
| Kevin Nieman | 2 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson v | Rookery |
| Simon Hutchinson | 0 | v | 0 | Wayne Smith | Drey |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman | Drey |
| Simon Hutchinson | 0 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman | Drey |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson | Rookery |