Questions and doubts surrounded the Workdaze team with the new season. Is the Dynasty about to end? The departure of Thomas Schwarz and Armin Taghinia from the team leaves a huge hole in Workdaze offense. Will the rest of the team be able to fill the void? GM/Coach Jon Ruggiero addressed the issue by recruiting two new players, Scott Lengefeld and Scott Corder. Though both were unable to score this game, their hustle and speed created opportunities for the rest of the team. Jon also employed the services of Team Doctor Saeed Talachian who immediately went to work when Pedro Chiang went down from a rough push from behind from the other team.
Workdaze was first to strike with Ralf Schroeder scoring a goal on a beautiful assist from David Epstein. Tapout responded with physical play led a player rumored to have the nickname “The butcher”. The tenacious Workdaze defense was doing an incredible job despite the absence of Seamus “The Stopper” Donohue but Tapout was able to even the score before the end of the half. The team played well and had several opportunities but was unable to capitalize. Workdaze typically plays a stronger second half anyway so things looked good.
In the second half, Tapout came out fired up and scrappy play in front of the goal that created a pinball like atmosphere led to a goal despite some quick saves by Kevin Jarvis. Doubts started to sneak in about whether or not Workdaze would be able to respond without their scorers. All the doubts were immediately put to rest when Mark Jaynes, newly promoted to bench coach to fill the yelling void left by Armin, scored on a nifty turn-around from outside the penalty box. Later on, Frank Law fooled the defense and the goalkeeper my masquerading a shot at goal as a pass. The ball found the bank of the net and once again, Workdaze was in familiar territory, in the lead towards the end of the game. With Jon R. and Frank anchoring the defense, Workdaze held on to win their first game of the season. A hard fought 3-2 win over a very physical and greatly improved Tapout team.
This season will be a challenging one for the Workdaze team. New team but same results so far, a win. Will they be able to keep this up? That remains to be seen but so far, it looks like the Dynasty lives on.
Goals -3 (Ralf, Mark, Frank)
Assists -2 ( David, Kevin)
