1 vs. 8: Jay Bruce walk-off HR to clinch NL Central Division vs. Colt McCoy and Browns upsetting New England

4 vs. 5: Gahanna Lions upsetting #1 Northland 71-45 in OHSAA Regional Final vs. Jared Sullinger’s 40-point outburst in 75-64 win over IUPUI

3 vs. 6: Evan Turner’s buzzer beating shot against Michigan vs. Terrelle Pryor’s 4th and 10 scramble against Iowa to keep drive alive

2 vs. 7: Ohio State shutting down Oregon offense in 2010 Rose Bowl vs. LeBron-less Cavs defeating Boston in season opener

After ending the 2009 season with a bitter 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake on home turf, the Columbus Crew opened the 2010 season with a much better performance, beating Toronto FC 2-0 yesterday afternoon. The win not only opens up the season on a good note, but also started their defense of the Trillium Cup, a rivalry between the Crew and Toronto that has been dominated by the Crew in the first two years of it’s existence. The Crew have not lost to Toronto while the Cup has been in place, outscoring them 10-5 in the seven game stretch.

The scoring opened up in the 29th minute when a Schelotto free kick close to the right sideline got into the box, and Andy Iro slipped past his defender to head in the first goal of the year from about eight yards out. “I didn’t think I hit it that clean,” Iro said. “I went in front of sort of late and it glanced my head. It wasn’t the cleanest of headers. Once I looked up and saw it headed to the corner I said, ‘OK, it’s going to have to be a good save.’

The Crew (1-0-0) wanted to put the game away early, but had trouble doing so. Goalie William Hesmer got his first big stop of the season about 2 minutes after the Iro goal, as he had to make a diving stop of a shot by Martin Saric from about 20 yards out. “All in all, it wasn’t our best game. It was ugly at times. There wasn’t a lot of rhythm,” Hesmer said. “We’re a little bit upset we didn’t put the game away earlier. ”

The clincher didn’t come until the 87th minute, when a loose ball scramble between Toronto’s Stefan Frei and Crew defender Danny O’Rourke made the ball poke out directly to Schelotto, who had an easy shot to seal the opening weekend victory over Toronto FC (0-1-0).

With the failure of the South-Western City Schools operating levy last August, Central Crossing soccer star Luke Carmichael was held back from a junior season that looked to be very promising. Starting every game in his first two seasons on the varsity squad, a third year on the team was out of sight. But for Carmichael, his playing days were nowhere near ending.

As a key member of Blast F.C., Carmichael has modeled his game of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the world’s greatest player who Carmichael compares his speed to. Another comparison is leadership, which Carmichael was a big part of last season for the Comets, serving as captain. When asked about what he does on the field to help teammates the most and improve the team as a whole, Carmichael responed by saying, “I’m a strong leader. I tell people what to do and just help communicate and I see the whole field when I’m playing which helps my team and forces me to make smart decisions.” Carmichael would add later, “As a team, we are very good at yelling at one another on the field to encourage better play and improve and kinks that may be in our game.”

With a school season out of the window, most of Luke’s time would be devoted to his club team, which after winning two tournaments in the last month, look to be on track to win the state championship.

“With the failure of the levy, it really caused me to focus on my club team much more. I was determined to get better each day and I put in the necessary work to do so.”

Scoring seven goals on the top talent in the region, numerous colleges have come calling. These include the likes of Eastern Illinois and Marshall among others. Attending a school where athletic success has been hard to come by, Carmichael has been the alternative in his three years as a Comet, and if he keeps working hard and staying focused the sky is the limit for the Manchester United fan. When asked how he reminds himself of Ronaldo, who is now starring for the European power Real Madrid, Carmichael cited his speed, strength and decision making ability as the major similarities.

“I have a really strong shot, I’m pretty accurate and my speed is a major strength.”

When the school season for soccer opens up next fall look for Carmichael to be right back on his road to success that likely will end on the Division I level.

(I apologize for 1.taking a month long break, and 2.taking so long to write this article)

It was a cold and blustery Thursday night in Crew Stadium. For the home team and their fans, it was chilling night in more ways than one. 10,109 Crew faithful had to stomach a 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake in the second of a 2-game aggregate goal series. Added to last Saturday’s 1-0 loss out in RSL, the defending champion Columbus Crew got ousted 4-2 over a 2-game span. “It’s disappointing. We had a dream start to the game,” goalie William Hesmer said. “The attitude was right. The energy was right then all of a sudden we lose focus. Our team defending on the first goal was poor. It’s the one I came closest to. After that they got some momentum.”

The beginning of the game certainly was the “dream start” that Hesmer talked about. Guillermo Barros Schelotto returned to the lineup and came out with extreme firepower, scoring on a long free kick in the 19th minute, and scored again in the 35th minute from the top of the penalty area. At the time, the Crew had the 2-1 lead in the aggregate-goal series. “We played well enough to get where we needed to be. It was 2-1 on aggregate. It was exactly where we wanted,” Crew midfielder Danny O’Rourke said. However, that was all there was to smile about for the 2-time Supporters Shield winners.

The next 12 minutes would prove to be deadly for Columbus, giving up 2 goals, Javier Morales adding the first in the 37th minute, and the second one during extra time on an extremely questionable call, awarding a penalty kick to Robbie Findley, who slipped the ball passed Hesmer to knot the score at 2. The second half didn’t turn around for Columbus as much as they tried to get it to. The only thing the Crew got in the second half was yellow cards, two of them, one to O’Rourke, and the other given to Moreno. The goal by Andy Williams in the 74th minute sealed the troubling fate for the home team. “Sometimes the better team doesn’t win. That’s the beauty of the sport — the team that plays attractive soccer, the team that plays good soccer doesn’t win,” head coach Robert Warzycha said of the loss.

Opinion: Before I start this section, I want to explain that this was the first Crew game I got to see in person. I had watched games on TV before, but there was nothing like this.

I don’t really know a whole lot about soccer when it comes to the in-depth rules or things along that line. But honestly, the officiating was horrible from what I do know. The call for the penalty kick right before halftime was nothing short of horrendous. Every call seemed to favor Real Salt Lake, and as the game continued to struggle along at 2-2, the calls kept piling in and in favor of RSL. From what I’ve heard, the official (Baldomero Toledo) is the worst official in the MLS. An interesting quote from O’Rourke about the PK and the call of it: “In a crucial game like this to call a PK like that when guys are falling, both guys pulling each other, you don’t call a PK. You don’t do it.” He goes on to say, “It’s like someone fouling the 3-point shooter and barely touching him on an NCAA final. Whatever. That’s what he saw. I didn’t see the same thing.”

Officiating should never take away from the game like it did Thursday. By calling the game so tense, you ruin the game. That is the same that can be said for any sport when it comes to officiating. It is always better to let the teams play it out instead of blowing the whistle every three seconds to stop play. You take away from the game that way.

But honestly, other than the officiating and the final score, it was a great time. Like I said, this was my first professional soccer game ever. For those of you who were like me and didn’t think you’d like watching soccer in person, your mistaken. Soccer is a great sport to watch in person, even on a freezing cold November night. I would like to thank two very important people for giving me this opportunity, an amazing girl Libby Schroeder and her dad for the ticket and the ride.

A cold night in New England didn’t stop the Crew from clinching the Eastern Conference. The Gino Padula goal in the 36th minute helped the Crew (13-5-10, 49 pts) take the lead, and hold on to defeat the Revolution in front of a crowd of 13,297 in Gillette Stadium. With the win, the Crew guaranteed themselves of winning the Eastern Conference, leading 2nd place Chicago by 8 points with only 2 games left for the Fire. “There’s still a lot of work to be done,” goalie William Hesmer said before the game. “We want first place in the East and the Supporters’ Shield. We want to be hitting all cylinders going into the playoffs.

The only goal was scored in the 36th minute, a long free kick that somehow found the back of the net, giving the Crew the lead. The Crew hung on despite not having some of their star players on the field such as Guillermo Barros Schelotto who was on the bench, and Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers and Alejandro Moreno, who all had World Cup priorities. Also, in the 65th minute they were forced to play a man down when Emmanuel Ekpo was red carded for an elbow.

The loss for the Revolution (10-10-8, 38 pts) tonight stopped any ideas they had of putting ground between themselves and D.C. United, who started the night 2 points behind New England. Next saturday will be the true test for NE, when D.C. comes calling into Gillette Stadium. The playoff chances will certainly be hanging in the balance, only having a two point lead with two matches left to play. The other remaining match will be played against Columbus–two weeks from Sunday will meet up again, this time in Crew Stadium. “It’s never a good thing to face a team back-to-back. The scheduling part of it is a bit nonsensical to me, but we have to do it. The preparation doesn’t change at all. When they are away from home they’ll be defending more, and like most teams when they’re at home you expect them to be attacking more,” New England head coach Steve Nicol said before the game about the MLS having the Crew on the schedule two out of the next three weeks.

With last Saturday’s 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy, the Crew became the first MLS team to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Now, the quest for a second straight Supporters Shield begins tonight against the expansion Seattle Sounders FC at 7:00 in Crew Stadium. Tonight’s matchup will be the first time that Seattle has ever come to Columbus to play in Crew Stadium, the first meeting of 2009 was a 1-1 draw on May 30th, in which the Crew played in front of the biggest crowd they’ve seen in this MLS season (29,126).

Also, tonight will mark the return of ex-Crew coach Sigi Schmid to Columbus for the first time. Last year, Schmid led Columbus to their first ever MLS Cup. The Crew haven’t focused much on his return to Columbus. “Our goal is to win the Supporters’ Shield right now and be in the Champions League,” head coach Robert Warzycha said. “They’ve already won the Open Cup, which is a huge accomplishment by an expansion team, but are trying to make the playoffs. Those are the most important things.”

Tonight’s Game By The Numbers:

483: Days since the Crew has lost an MLS game inside of Crew Stadium.

2-4-4: Record for Seattle FC in last 10 games.

+12: Goal differential for Crew in home games.

10-1-6: Columbus’s record in 2009 when scoring the first goal.

23: Fouls committed by LA Galaxy last week, the most by any opponent of the Crew all season.

0: Trips to Columbus by Seattle FC before today’s game.

Trying to improve from the 2-2 tie last Sunday, Columbus (11-4-10) looks to step it up tomorrow against the always tough LA Galaxy in Crew Stadium at 7:30. The offense was lacking in the first half of the Chicago game, not scoring, and trailing 2-0 into half. They found some open space in the 2nd half, forcing the 2-2 tie. “I am happy we came back from being down 2-0, especially against a team that is right behind us in the standings. I think it was an important tie on the road and it almost felt like a win,” Robbie Rogers said of the Chicago game last Sunday.

The main talk this week has been shadowed around LA’s David Beckham, who is most likely not making the trip to Columbus due to ankle inflammation, a problem that they say he’s had all season. “It was a 50-50 thing coming. We decided to use better judgment and give him this game off. We really didn’t have a feel until about Tuesday in the fact that he is a question mark. [The inflammation] is something that David always has. I expect him to be back next week,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said of his midfielder. Last week, Beckham was the only scorer for LA in their 2-0 win over Toronto FC. The win against Toronto was much needed, since the previous week they had taken a 6-3 beating from FC Dallas, the most goals given up in club history.

The final five games of the season for the Crew are very important for retaining the top spot in the Eastern Conference over hard-charging Chicago. Columbus currently stands 3 points ahead of the Fire, and with a win tomorrow would give them possibly some more distance between them and Chicago. “Obviously it was an important game for us because [the Fire] are in second place and if we lose the game, we’ll be even in points. So it was important for us to stay ahead of them because it was a six-point swing,” head Coach Robert Warzycha said. “We are happy with the point and we were pushing for another goal but obviously, we are happy with the point.”

For the second consecutive game, the Crew found themselves down 2-0 when heading to halftime. The end result this time, however, was different. Cruz Azul (3-0-1) jumped out with two first half goals, and never looked back despite some chippy play from both sides, rolling to a 2-0 victory. “Obviously we did everything we could to win the game but we played a very good team,” Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. “They created four chances. They scored two goals. It’s something for us to learn from. We didn’t have the luck today.”

Early on, the Crew shut down the Cruz Azul offense for the most part. The 14th minute however, gave the group of visiting fans something to cheer about when Pablo Zeballos added the first goal after Eric Brunner missed two attempts to knock the ball out of the box. Zeballos slipped it past goalie William Hesmer to make the score 1-0, giving Cruz Azul the lead for good. The game started to get chippy during the 36th minute when Horacio Cervantes purposely elbowed Steven Lenhart in front of goal. The Crew players were overly mad about the no call, and some Crew players had to be restrained before getting to Cervantes.

The missed chances for the Crew in the first half stung more as Alejandro Vela popped one over Hesmer in the 39th minute, giving Cruz Azul the 2-0 lead going into the break. “Our guys gave a good account of themselves. They were generating chances but didn’t get one to fall with a couple of balls off the post. You’re always disappointed when you lose,” Crew technical director Brian Bliss said. Four of the six shots on goal the Crew had all night occured in the first half.

Cruz Azul played keep away in the second half, not giving the Crew a lot of chances to score after intermission. Duncan Oughton had one of the only true shots in the second half, in the 47th minute he had a shot that was blocked by a diving stop. Also, Adam Moffat had a shot in the 81st minute bounce off of the cross bar.”The quality of the team we played against,” Warzycha said. “This team [Cruz Azul] is very good and they know how to play with the lead.”

Nearly a month ago, the Crew went into the match with Cruz Azul with high hopes, and a belief they could take down the Mexican power on their home turf. However, the only thing theyleft with on that late August day was a 5-0 loss in the CONCACAF Champions League game, and a broken spirit. “It definitely stings when you lose that bad. The good thing about the Champions League is it’s group play. We can take them on at our place,” defender Jed Zayner said. The rematch is exactly what they get at Crew Stadium, tonight at 8 pm.

The horrific start for the black and gold led to the blowout; giving up two goals in the first 8 minutes. They also lost Eric Brunner to a red card 30 minutes after the 2 goals, putting the Crew in dire straits, and a deficit they never did get the chance to cut into. “Some things went wrong. Anytime you get a red card against a Mexican team early they’re going to possess the ball and make runs. It’s tough to beat them,” defender Frankie Hejduk said of the beat down on August 26th in Mexico.

The loss stung for Columbus mentally for a while, but the focus now is getting redemption, and getting the chance to enjoy a victory over Cruz Azul this time. “It gives us added motivation to whoop them at home. We have something to prove at home,” Zayner said. “Losing 5-nil at their place, they had a little laugh at us but now this time we hope to have a little laugh at them.”The last home competitive match the Crew lost at home was a 2-0 blanking at the hands of San Jose on June 7th, 2008, almost 16 months since that loss. “We take pride in winning games here. Anything less than three points is a disappointment,” Hejduk said. “We’re going out there for the win and prove that game was a fluke. Not taking anything away from them. They played a great game, actually. You have to win your games at home. If we do that we’ll solidify ourselves in this group.”

A week after the Crew snuck a win out over Houston in the final seconds, they faced another tough situation, trailing 2-0 to Chicago at halftime. The Fire (10-6-10) were in the ideal position to take over the top spot from Columbus. The scoring started early for the Fire in the 6th minute with the first of the two goals scored by Peter Lowry, his 2nd and 3rd goals of the season. His second of the day, in the 35th minute gave Chicago the two goal lead in intermission.

The second half opened for the Crew in the 55th minute with a Schelotto goal, his 11th of the season on a header that was assisted by Robbie Rogers, and (at the time) tying Fredy Montero for third in the MLS in goals scored. Chicago continued the choking by losing Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the 63rd minute with unknown left leg injury. The comeback for Columbus (11-4-10) was complete with a 75th minute goal by none other than Schelotto, with a penalty kick after Crew forward Steven Lenhart was fouled by Fire defender Wilman Conde.

With the tie, the Crew hang on to first place in the Eastern Conference, still three points ahead of Chicago. Remaining schedules are shown below for the top two teams in the East.

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