Volt League Week 9 Recap
(image via Volt League)
The Volt League finished up the first half of the season with an action-packed Week 9. Before the league resumes this weekend, we look back at the recent action.
Ghosttown Saints 4-2 Houstonians FC
The Saints claimed the first victory of the day in a close match up against Houstonians FC. Ayoka put the Saints on top with a beautiful chip over the goalkeeper. early on As the first half was coming to an end, Houstonians equalized after a mistake by the defense left Nelson one on one and the striker placed the ball in the back of the net. In the 59th, Ayoka put The Saints ahead once again, this time from the penalty spot. Only a few minutes later, Ayoka got his hat trick from a well executed counter. In the 73rd, Ayoka once again found the back of the net and completed a great match with 4 goals, to make him the top scorer of the league after nine weeks of games. Houstonians got one back from a set piece after a series of rebounds inside the six yard box late on in the match.
With week 10 starting in 2024, teams will now starting facing teams for the second time in the season, and it will be exciting to see some teams adjust against familiar foes.
Houstonians will start the new year going against Frankfurt Athletic (both squads have still to play each other because their match scheduled in week one was postponed), while Ghosttown Saints will take on AC Juniors. Their first match ended in a 3-3 draw, so we should see a promising match to say the least.
GreenFlag FC 6-0 Frankfurt Athletic
The battle of "The Greens” had a clear victor and GreenFlag had no mercy against their opponents. Omar opened up the count in the 18th minute with a good finish as the goalkeeper came way off his line. Even though the half finished with GreenFlag outshooting their opponent 12 to 2, the scoreline remained 1-0. The second half would turn out to be very different. Pham received the ball at the top of the box in the 54th, and with one movement he shook off the defender and put the ball in the back of the net for the second goal. Pham’s second goal of the match would come in the 73th, from a beautiful curler from a free kick that left the goalkeeper standing there in his spot just looking as the ball flew into the net. A few minutes later Pham found the back of the net again for his hat trick. Omar got his second after scoring off a rebound of the crossbar towards the end of the match. As everything was coming to an end, Omar wasn’t content and he went out and found his third of the match to get his own personal hat trick. Frankfurt will try and get back on track when they encounter Houstonians FC. Green Flag will be taking on FC Seinfeld for a week one rematch.
Houston Rovers 0-6 FC Seinfeld
Rovers came in to this match on cloud nine but FC Seinfeld was tired of being left behind and decided to turn things around before the end of the year. Rodriguez opened up the count in the 12th minute. Osorio got the second from a rebound after an amazing save from Mark after an even more amazing shot by Lloyd. Kevin Sanchez, as the teams were walking off just before the break, would get a third goal. Seinfeld looked like a whole different team and they would not pull any punches in the second half. Lloyd fired in the first of the second half with a nice rocket from outside the box. Sanchez got his second of the game after a great run by Memba that left in him one on one against the goalkeeper. Kevin chipped the ball right over the keeper. Woodward claimed the last goal of the night and with that the 3 points for the team currently in last place but looking for the second half of the season to be a different one. Seinfeld now have 5 points and they are only a few points away from moving out of that relegation spot. They will look to continue their winning ways against GreenFlag FC in Week 10. Rovers get to host a difficult Nightwatch FC.
MAFC 6-0 FC Nightwatch
Just like Inter SC did during the mid week game, Nightwatch gave MAFC a tough time in the beginning minutes of this match. Thirteen minutes in, after a great counter attack, Cunemo got service on the back post and got the first goal of the night for MAFC. At about the half hour mark, Garcia received the ball about 30 yards out and with one movement to set up he fired a rocket with his right foot and found the upper 90 right corner for the second goal for MAFC. Garcia got his brace right out of the gate in the second half. Ten minutes later, Velasquez got the fourth for the Lions. Cunemo got his second and fifth for MAFC in the 84th minute, and then his third and sixth for his team in the 88th. Despite the scoreline, I would love to give a shout out to the FC NightWatch goal keeper Evert for having a heck of a night. He was the reason MAFC did not score any more goals. FC Nightwatch will comeback against Houston Rovers in 2024 while MAFC will be taking on Inter SC once again to open up week 10.
AC Juniors 3-1 International SC
Thi match was in prime time and it did not disappoint. Alan Cruz got the game going early on in the 4th minute. He received0 the ball at the top of the box and blasted one past the goal keeper with his left foot to open the scoring. The second goal came in the 13th from a long ball that was chased down by the speedy Sevilla. With a simple finish he found the back of the net. In the 33rd, Inter got one back from the PK spot with Ambriz Jr. converting. The third goal for AC Juniors came from a great build-up down the middle, where Cervantes found Sevilla once again making a forward run. As he had been doing the entire game, Montoya ran alongside Sevilla, making the decision to squae the ball for him to find the back of the net. A very well put together and composed defense helped AC Juniors to maintain that goal differential even with Inter pushing for a second goal in the second. The champs were able to hold on and take the three points and carry that momentum forward. Their first game next year will be a match against Ghosttown Saints, a known foe. On the other hand, Inter will be taking on MAFC once again, and will be looking for somewhat of a revenge from their last meeting not that long ago.
This concludes the first half of Season 5 of Volt League. We hope everyone has had a great time with family and loved ones during these holidays and we look forward to sharing more experiences inside and outside the pitch of Volt League. See y’all next year with more FUTBOL.
