With a perfect soccer weather around 70F with no threat from mother nature, the Tigers were hosting the players from USA with their first Conference confrontation this season. The USA team has been doing really well in this start of the season by winning most of their games with lots of goals scored. Their intent tonight was to repeat their success against a very young team from Caro which was missing 4 key players on the roster now. The message from the coach was to have the remaining players step up to the challenge and show the visiting talented team what they're all about.

Fair enough, the first half started with a domination from USA since the Tigers' coach decided to settle for a defensive play and limit the damage by preventing their good players to score. The message went through really well as the Tigers played a solid game by rushing first to the ball, winning certain plays and making awesome triangular passes. Certain mistakes were made by the hosts but without any outcome if it weren't for the focused vigilance and talent of goaltender Junior and Captain Coby Fetting who basically owned his box. A few breakaways exhibited by the Caro players scared slightly the opposing team and their crowd but without any serious outcome. The first half seemed to be balanced for both teams as it ended with 0-0 score on the board. The Tigers played their best first half ever without allowing any goal to their opponents.

The half time speech by the coach was more about congratulating the players who put the effort and made the difference in the scoreless half time. Also, the coach reminded some players to step up their game and contribute to the team with some slight corrections in the way they attack the ball and tackle the opponents with some smart positioning over the soccer field. The coach was very pleased with the performance of his team during the first half of this confrontation. Therefore, he decided to keep going and use the same strategy for the second half with no changes at all.

Second half started with the same energy on the Tigers side and you can notice the fatigue starting to hunt the visitors since they gave it all at first half. The Tigers tried to take advantage of that situations but could not capitalize on those few chances in their end with Freshman Sang La persisting to fight for the ball almost ended up scoring with a clear breakaway.

With 20 minutes left to the game, the ball was crossed to the Tigers area where it found a forgotten USA player who was not marked at all at the far side of the goal post to surprise the Tigers goalie who thought his defender got it. All the USA player had to do is deflect the ball comfortably to the empty net for a goal. All the hard work disappeared in the air instantly due to lack of attention by one of the Caro defenders. The coach kept encouraging his players to keep fighting for the game and limit the score to one goal since his team is missing some key players. Senior and Captain Trevin Phillips tried to move up from his sweeper position to surprise the USA defense with a long shot but without any threat to level the score. Phillips played a key role in defense as a sweeper making several blocks to the opponents' shots to protect his goalie. He was also winning most of the air balls and cleared the Caro zone several times. With only 5 minutes to the game, the coach advised Phillips to stay home as a sweeper and try to finish a game with only a one goal deficit as he was pleased with the outcome. Special mentions go to center midfielders Senior and Captain Jon Mozden and Freshman Brady Rigg who both played an awesome game in possessing the midfield real estate with some great passing skills and ball control.

The USA coach, the referees and the media representatives were all with agreement to tell the coach how surprised they were to witness a well fought battle between USA and Caro. Everybody expected otherwise and the predictions were proven wrong due to the outstanding performance given by the Caro Tigers.

As usual, the Caro goalie, Junior and Captain Coby Fetting made spectacular saves to keep his team in the game and limit the goals to only a single one. He made a total of 17 saves.

The game MVP award was presented to Sophomore Forward player Josiah Anderson who played an amazing game as a stopper. He was able to mark his opponents, win the ball in most cases and block several shots to protect his goalie and clear his zone in many cases.

Next game is away at Harbor Beach (402 S Fifth St., Harbor Beach, MI 48441) on Wednesday September 11 at 5:30 pm. The bus leaves from Caro HS at 3:15 pm.