"You're supposed to be at home..." Columbia 1-2 Brown

When a small army of traveling fans out-sings the home fans at premier league matches they will most-often recite the lines in the above headline, or perhaps "shall we sing a song for you....?" In Columbia's neat and compact soccer stadium on Saturday night, only the powder-blue walls and the sound of subway trains rumbling behind the bleachers reminded you that you were in fact in New York City, not at the summit of college hill in Providence. Parents, friends, and a very sizeable alumni presence gave our boys the type of support that is so invaluable when on the road.
For obvious reasons, our lads entered the contest with confidence - the mood was good, and we ate well at Mario's in Westport on our trek down I-95. Unlike the fixture in 2007, our bus driver was accurate and timely (when you have a few minutes to look, see Anders' post from the Novembr 19th 2007 blog at www.brownmenssoccer.blogspot.com for one of the most entertaining accounts of a road-trip ever...) and got us to the stadium with both the players and the bus in good working order.
The match started with our boys on the front foot (first time in four games boys!) and Columbia seemingly unable to create any kind of attacking threat. On this evidence it surely was only going to be a matter of how many we would win by, rather than if we would win.... Chances came and went and our boys played some great stuff, only for the final ball to let us down. The introduction of TJ Thompson after about twenty minutes changed the game.... for two reasons.... Minutes after being introduced he made a darting run in behind the home defence and sprinted towards the goal. As the ball bounced the Lions centre-back attempted an aerial challenge that can be best-described as clumsy. TJ was felled like a tree and the free-kick was awarded. Despite the clear foul, the majority of people in the stadium felt that the Columbia defender had at least tried to play the ball. The referee obviously disagreed, and applied the letter-of-the-law in brandishing a red card. It was a harsh decision and perhaps we had more sympathy than most in light of recent events in San Francisco and vs. BU!
Despite the man advantage (I've felt for a long time that a team playing short-handed is not always at a huge disadvantage as they will generally raise their level of play to compensate) it took until the 40th minute for us to break the deadlock - that man TJ squeezing a shot out of traffic and into the bottom of the net. 1-0 Bears would be the score heading into half-time.
Tactical re-shuffles were the topic of discussion among the staff as we made the short walk to the locker room at half time. Having come up with a plan, the boys were given their instructions and entered the second half determined to put the game away. Apparently, these stubborn Lions had failed to read the script and started the second-half determined to give us as many problems as they could. They chased and harried us, forcing our boys onto the back-foot. Talking of reading the script, five minutes into the second half the Columbia centre forward put an unstoppable shot into the roof of our net, having turned with the ball in exactly the manner we told our players he would...... bah, who needs scouting reports anyway! 1-1 with 40 minutes to play - plenty of time for either team to go on and win the match.....
We huffed and we puffed but the rythym that we played with in the first half was nowhere to be seen. Despite a territorial advantage we seemed bereft of ideas and unable to break down a stubborn home defence. They had the same siege mentality that we had thrived on in San Francisco - who could blame them? A result against Brown would be a huge feather in the proverbial cap....
In the waining moments, in an eerily similar scenario to Dylan's breakaway at USF, the Columbia centre-forward wriggled free and bore down on Grandstrand's goal..,... thankfully his finish didn't match his approach play and we headed for extra time. The five minute break was Coach Noonan's opportunity to gently remind the boys how to play. The first extra time period began and our boys had the bit between their teeth as they ran at the home goal with a renewed purpose.
Five minutes in and it hapenned - there must have been twenty players within ten yards of the Columbia goal as the ball pinged around, ricochetting off legs, heads, arms and feet, before Nicky finally planted it past a stricken home defence and into the back of the net ..... 2-1.... our boys ran onto the field with joy, the coaches slumped out of sheer relief (four straight draws would have been too much to take) and the Bear's oustanding traveling fans celebrated in true style.
Quality post-game time was spent with the alums, parents and friends in attendance, and the bus trundled back up I-95 and home to the OMAC. Two rest days to follow and then we welcome the Princeton Tigers to Stevenson Field. Let's just hope they don't feel too welcome in 02912....