A rainy and wind-swept hill top in Bethel Park was the scene of a round-robin O-40 playoff game between Coverdale Rovers and Indiana. Coverdale was the regular-season champion, but Indiana was strangely confident going into the game. In the spring (as regular readers will remember), Indiana traveled to Bethel Park with only 10 men, losing 5-0, and they were anxious to take on Coverdale with a full squad. The game started with Coverdale keeping most of the possession, but Indiana found they could counter-attack quickly using long, hard passes on the wet turf. One of these passes found Matt McKelvy up the middle with no defenders between him and the goal. McKelvy roared in on the keeper, then coolly rolled the ball past him to take the lead for Indiana. If that didn’t stun the home team enough, about 8 minutes later, the ball bounced out to Jose Soriano at the top of the box. He one-timed a shot that rode the wind into the top-left corner of the goal, and it was 2-0. Indiana played at least equal to Coverdale for the rest of the half, and took the two-goal lead into the break. In the second half, Indiana played in a somewhat more defensive posture, but still counter-attacked frequently and had the majority of the goal-scoring opportunities. Coverdale became increasingly desperate, abandoning their wing play and trying to force attacks down the middle. This did result in a Coverdale goal (with about 15 minutes to go), but it also allowed the Indiana fullbacks to move inside and clog up the attack. Finally, with just a few minutes remaining, Indiana’s Mike Hartle was fouled in the penalty area, and Soriano converted the PK to seal the victory for Indiana. The travel to Elizabeth Forward for the second round-robin game on October 26.