For the first day of the 2009-2010 championship, the federation had organised a special treat for teams participating as matches were played indoor in the Western Park Sports Centre. Despite Coach Banks being away for his honeymoon, AKITA was coming with a strong squad. Additionnally to Stefan available after an injury prevented him from playing last year, two new players joined AKITA for this first match. Matsuo from Japan plays in the field whereas Angus, a young Hong Kong prospect, will share the goalkeeper position with Wan. Ulf started on the line, with Markus on the left wing, Norbert in the centre, Stefan and Hans on the halves and PA on the right wing. Rolf, Guillaume, Yoann and Dominik were enjoying the air-con on the bench.
With Alex not there, AKITA opted for a 6-0 defense to try to maximise the height advantage and limit the play to the DEMI line. This allowed for a strong start with Ulf scoring the first goal of the new season on a fast break and AKITA conceding only 2 goals in the first quarter of the match. The fire power from the backs allowed for regular scoring and 3 goals from Hans added to goals from Stefan, Norbert and Ulf brought the score to 6 -2 after 12 minutes.
The DEMI team was running short of options and were looking for number 16, their half left, to find the opening. After being blocked on attempted jump and hip shots he managed to find the way to the wing through crosses and precise shooting. He scored three in a row to prevent AKITA from pulling away as Yoann and Rolf contributed one each just after their swap in to be added to three more Hans goals bringing the half time score to 11 - 5.
The orders at half time were quite simple, more of the same and increase the pressure in defense on some of their players. The DEMI teams was also looking for adjustments. To try to create more options, they accelerated their rythm and rotates players around, this gave them few more opportunities of scoring and they were awarded penalties on a regular basis. Unfortunately for them, Angus had been waiting for this opportunity less than 50% of penalties were converted. Even with the Team playing at 4 against 6 and Hans and PA getting excluded in succession, the defense did not break providing a strong support.
The AKITA team was playing at its own pace, losing few balls and showing patience when needed. As Norbert, Ulf and Hans were still adding to their tally, Dominik was also able to add his own goal. with 10 minutes to play, the score was 17 -9. For five minutes, as a Norbert injury created some confusion, none of the team could score but AKITA restarted the machine with a Rolf goal immediately followed by Hans's 8th, Stefan concluded the score of this 20 - 10 victory ensuring a very positive start in this new campaign.
Hans 8, Ulf 3, Norbert 3, Stefan 2, Yoann 1, Rolf 2, Dominik 1
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