NFL
By: Zachary Draves
It may have been crisp and cold at SeatGeek Stadium but the Chicago House Athletic Club came into their home contest against the Maryland Bobcats FC hot.
The House came into this contest-winning three out of their last four games in their debut NISA season and showed signs that they found a groove to work within all facets of the game.
From the start, both teams came out of the gates ready to play fast and furious and that ferocious pace began with a House goal at the five-minute mark by forward Nazeem Bartman to put them up 1-0.
The Bobcats immediately answered back at the fourteenth minute of play with a goal by forward Tunde Akinlosotu.
Quickly thereafter the Bobcats scored at the 18th minute of play off a header by defenseman Kay Banjo as the House started to play very tediously as they struggled to get of a shot and push the ball up the pitch.
Furthermore, their defense was having difficulty not being able to block off easy gaps that enabled the Bobcats to split through.
Banjo lived up to his name by playing the loudest tune with another goal at the 35-minute mark to put the Bobcats up 3-1 and the House showing signs of fatigue going into the half.
As the second half got underway, the same struggles that rendered the House toward the end of the first were still there and the Bobcats defense was hard to breakthrough.
The House did get a break on a penalty kick at the 69-minute mark by forward Wojciech Wojcik to bring them within a goal.
Unfortunately, that and other really good attempts at getting a shot on goal towards the end weren’t enough to get them over the hump, not to mention a hat trick goal by Banjo plus another by Adam in added time that sealed the victory for the Bobcats at 5-2.
Afterward, House Coach CJ Brown attributed the loss to the performance of the defense but also had additional takeaways to learn from going forward.
“We struggled with pace, we don’t have a fast backline” he said.
“I don’t want to pack it in right now but I want guys to figure out that you have to adjust to certain speeds and maybe play tighter so that they don’t get the free run-off.”
The House (4-2-7) play New Amsterdam (5-2-7) on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 6:00 pm CST on the road and their next home contest will be on Saturday, Nov. 3 against Chattanooga (4-2-7) at 6:00 pm CST.
