2023 Memorial Day Weekend Soccer

It was pleasant Memorial Day weekend, with sunny skies. Saturday afternoon (27 May), I drove to Julie's house in Florissant. After picking her up, we headed to Schlafly Tap Room for the pre-match party. After parking on Washington Avenue, Julie and I walked to the party area.

The St. Louligans, St. Louis City Punks, Fleur de Noise, and No Nap City Ultras were there having fun before St. Louis CITY SC played Vancouver Whitecaps FC at CITYPARK that night. Julie and I mingled among the partygoers, had Schlafly beer, and dinner from the Dutchess Rose Royal Street Food truck. Julie and I chatted with friends who were there.

About an hour before kickoff, STL Santos led a drum-filled warm up chant session on the side street. This was followed a few minutes later by the march around CITYPARK and into the stadium itself.

It was another full house for the match. The crowd was in good spirits and ready to pull for CITY in the match. Julie and I were ready.

It didn't take long for CITY to take the lead, as Eduard Lowen scored off a free kick in the 10th minute. His shot found the upper corner of the net just past the Vancouver goalkeeper. Just before halftime, an own goal made it 2-0 CITY at the interval.

The Whitecaps pulled one back in the 83rd minute, but CITY's Miguel Perez--who graduated from high school just two days before--scored in second half stoppage time to make it 3-1 CITY at Full Time. We supporters were just so happy about the result. It wasn't a pretty match, but the result was what matters. After the match, the CITY players and coaches walked around the pitch to salute their supporters. When they came to the supporter section, the players and coaches joined hands to do a running salute to us.

After the celebration, Julie and I walked out of CITYPARK and headed for my car. We then headed back to her house, where she invited me in for a beverage and a chat. I had a cup of coffee and Julie had iced tea as we sat on her patio. She lit a fire in a brazier before we sat down to talk for a while. Just before 1:00 am Sunday, I left with a hug and a kiss with Julie and drove home.

After a short bit of sleep, I was up and getting ready for soccer refereeing. The Gateway Memorial Classic youth tournament was taking place and I had three matches at World Wide Technology Soccer Park: an under 12 boys group match, and two under 11 finals. My crew and I had a good set of matches, with no lingering incidents.

Off work today, but conscious of the meaning of Memorial Day. Let's not forget the sacrifices of our service people throughout this country's history.

Later.

Websites of Entiries Mentioned in this Post:

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise

No Nap City Ultras: HOME (nonapcityultras.com)

STL Santos: Home | Home | STL Saints (stlsantos.com)

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

CITYPARK: CITYPARK | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Dutchess Rose Royal Street Food: (1) Duchess Rose Royal Treats | St. Louis MO | Facebook

Gateway Memorial Classic: St. Louis Scott Gallagher — Club Soccer in Saint Louis (slsgsoccer.com)

World Wide Technology Soccer Park: St. Louis Scott Gallagher — Club Soccer in Saint Louis (slsgsoccer.com)

 

Saint Louis FC Defeats Sporting KC II and Weather

 Last night (15 August), I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton for the USL Championship ( https://www.uslchampionship.com/) match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Sporting Kansas City II (https://www.sportingkc.com/sportingkcii).

Before the match, I joined the St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/) in their tailgate in the parking lot. I made a donation to the St. Louligans' Charity du Jour, Pride STL ( https://www.pridestl.org/). There was a bit of talk about the name and crest reveal two days before of St. Louis City SC (https://stlcitysc.com/), the Major League Soccer (https://www.mlssoccer.com/) team that will start play in 2023.

After the raffle drawing, the St. Louligans walked into West Community Stadium for the match. We were just settling into our seats when word came to evacuate the stadium, due to lightning in the vicinity. We had to go back to our cars to wait out the weather delay. The all-clear did come and the match kicked off about 50 minutes later than the scheduled 7:00 pm start time.

Russell Cicerone put the home side ahead five minutes in; however, Sporting KC II leveled it 35 minutes later. It began to rain as the first half came to an end, and the rain soon came down harder. A report of lightning in the vicinity meant another weather delay. We walked back to our cars to wait this out. It would be about one hour before the second half kicked off.

Mour Samb put Saint Louis FC back ahead in the 69th minute, after several earlier efforts came up short. Joaquin Rivas put the dagger in the 90th minute and Saint Louis FC came out 3-1 winners.

After the match, the Saint Louis FC players came over to the corner where the St. Louligans were located and they sang with us as they do after a win.

Saint Louis FC is on the road this coming weekend, then hosts Louisville City FC next Saturday, 29 August.

Later.

Twice with Saint Louis FC This Past Week

Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) had two home United Soccer League Championship (https://www.uslchampionship.com/) matches this past week at West Community Stadium of World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

The first was this past Wednesday night (5 August), when Sporting Kansas City II (https://www.sportingkc.com/sportingkcii) came to town. The St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/) gathered in the parking lot before the match to socialize, then walked into the stadium for the match.

After a scoreless first half, Sporting took a 1-0 lead. Saint Louis didn't give up, and scored in second half stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw. We celebrated like it was a victory.

Three days later (8 August), I was back at WWT Soccer Park for Saint Louis FC's contest with FC Tulsa (https://www.fctulsa.com/). Prior to going, I made an online donation for the "Schlaffle" raffle the St. Louligans have at their tailgates, in association with Schlafly Beer (https://www.schlafly.com/). My ticket was drawn, and I won the night's prize package: a wooden Schlafly beer sign, two Schlafly/Saint Louis FC key fobs/bottle openers, and a Saint Louis FC pre-match shirt autographed by midfielder Russell Cicerone. I put these items in my car before walking into West Community Stadium for the match. The Schlaffle's real winners were that night's Charity du Jour, the National Alliance on Mental Illness--St. Louis (https://www.namistl.org/).

Although Saint Louis had its chances, FC Tulsa proved the better side, running out 2-0 winners. They scored well into the first half, then added another in the 90th minute.

I hope Saint Louis FC finds good form soon, with a rematch against Sporting Kansas City II at home this Saturday night.

Later.

Doughnuts, Futsal, Oscars, and Soccer

A week ago Friday morning (24 February), I stopped by Krispy Kreme (http://krispykreme.com/) in Fenton to buy 12 doughnuts, which I brought to the car rental branch. As usual, the treats were much appreciated by the staff. We had plenty of work to do on that Friday, but we got it done to get out just after closing time.

My quiet weekend that followed ended with futsal games at Competitive Courts & Conditioning Center (C4) in Creve Coeur (http://www.c4stl.com/). It was my first matches I refereed in the season, and they were on the last day of the season. Anyway, my partner and I had three matches, with the last two (one of under 15 boys, and the last of high school boys) being most competitive. It was a satisfying shift.

After stopping at McDonald's in Des Peres for dinner on the way home, I watched the Academy Awards (http://oscar.go.com/) on television in my bedroom. As usual, I was intrigued as to who would receive what Oscar. I was shocked as virtually everyone when the Best Picture winner was originally announced as "La La Land," then having that swiftly corrected to "Limelight," I haven't seen any of these movies yet, but I hope to see them before too long.

That Sunday morning, I registered to attend this year's International Plastic Modelers' Society/USA (IPMS/USA) National Convention this July in Omaha, Nebraska (http://www.ipmsusa2017.com/). I am greatly looking forward to this event.

Work this past week has gone very well. Plenty to work on those days I'm in, but with my colleagues I got it done and kept our customers satisfied.

I flexed out Tuesday afternoon (28 February) as I would work the following Saturday morning. After some time relaxing and having dinner at home, I headed to Bill Wagner's house in Oakville for this month's IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) business meeting. We planned the March general and business meetings, and discussed some other club business.

I did some work during my free time this past week to get some materials together for my income taxes. I need to get on to that soon.

After work yesterday morning, I had lunch at Olive Street Cafe (http://olivestreetcafe.com/) in Ellisville. There, I enjoyed a Muffalata with a side of onion rings. Before returning home from lunch, I washed my car at Martian Car Wash (http://www.martiancarwash.com/), also in Ellisville.

This afternoon found me at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (http://saintlouisfc.com/soccerpark) in Fenton to referee my first outdoor matches of the spring season. I worked four under 12 9v9 boys matches on a small-sided field. Our crew was short one person, as that person failed to show up. (I let my assigner knew of this matter.) Fortunately for my partner and I, the games were not too much trouble for us.

Back to work in the morning. Later.