Exquisite Ditto

Same old, same old. Yoav Barkai scores early, his team attacks at will, the other team gets nary a sniff of goal and the Sachems roll.

The Sachem school bus flattened Lincoln Soccer Club on Sunday, 3-0. And it wasn't even that close. A litany of superlatives can be used to describe the dominance the Sachems have shown through their first five games of the young season, but the great grey men of Miller and Burkey prefer just one: beautiful.

Beautiful was Ethan Sweeting serving a perfectly weighted, perfectly accurate through ball from the center of the park to left midfielder Cole Turissini in behind the Lincoln defense; and Turissini passing to the fabulous feet of Yoav Barkai, who inevitably beat the last defender and tucked the ball neatly into bed for a 12^th minute score. Not often regarded as the biggest man on the team, Barkai is indeed the big man on stat sheet – with a team-leading five goals and three assists on the young season.

Beautiful was Griffin Burkey, holding his goal to make two fantastic saves, the only two his team needed on the day, even while suffering a knock to his leg earlier in the week. The only thing more infinitesimal than his goals against average is the amount of time he spends at the barber shop.

Beautiful was John Driscoll, flying up and down the right flank, doing his defensive duty and attacking with pace and composure, serving crosses in like a mini Steve Ralston.

Beautiful was man of the match Eric Rolfs, playing all 60 minutes and serving the key roles in the Sachem defense – starting at right back, marshaling the back line for most of the first half and deputizing in the center of the park for the second half, demonstrating his strong passing, tracking and tactical abilities throughout.

Beautiful was Fightin' Foley (Patrick, to his parents), whose toughness and stay-with-it-ness made possible the second Sachems goal. A well-timed pass from Driscoll met Foley moving down the right flank. Foley beat his marker into the penalty area and was hauled down as he prepared to strike the ball. The foul not whistled, Foley popped up, gathered the ball and fired past the helpless keeper.

Beautiful was the Sachems' third goal. The versatile Ian Steckel wide left, looking up to find Bennett Parsons inside the penalty area, the comedic one forgoing a foray on goal and tipping the ball starboard to Foley for the forceful finish.

Beautiful was the 30-yard, zigzagging run of Charlie Cacciola-me-if-you can, who seemed to beat half the town of Lincoln before bending a blistering blast off the left post.

Beautiful was the wing play and service of Charlie Booth, whose repeated Cruyffs paid would have made the Dutch great proud; the solid back line performances of the always solid Philip Woolston and Elliott Rippe, two of the most composed players this side of the Charles River; the smooth sailing of striker Ben Beyer, whose absence on the stats sheet is balanced by his continually improving all-around game; the quiet effort of steady Spencer Anton, felled by a foot injury early on; and the consistent two-way contribution of the team's newly anointed beast, Michael Haley.

Beautiful is a 5-0 record, four clean sheets, a goal differential of 18 and not giving a goal in 285 minutes.

Beautiful is Sachems soccer.

Bring it on!