November 24

Sunday afternoon soccer at the Santander Arena as the Pennsylvania Roar played its second home game. The MISL has seven teams in a single division, four in the eastern part of the country and three in the Midwest. The schedule is geographically oriented, the Roar faces each of the Midwest clubs once at home. The eastern opponents visit more frequently, the Roar host Syracuse and Rochester twice each and Baltimore (as the closest rival) three times. On this day the Milwaukee Wave made its only appearance in Reading, the Wave is a long-established franchise with history dating back to the 1980s. The Roar debuted its mascot before the game as "Roary" (a ferocious black bear "from the mountains of Pennsylvania") made his first public appearance. It's been well-documented that the Roar is very much a new organization both on the field and off, I guess for me the true appeal is bringing my expertise in what I do to the organization and watching things grow literally from the ground up. All things considered I thought the game presentation at the opener went very well, on this day it went even better as everyone seems to be getting more comfortable in their roles (myself included). Indoor soccer officiating crews include a referee who is stationed literally next to me at the penalty bench, before the game I asked him to keep me abreast of fouls called and other non-penalty violations so I could keep the crowd informed and make for a much better fan experience. As an expansion club the Roar has struggled to find chemistry early on, after a road loss on Friday they lost on this day to Milwaukee 21-4. The game was 4-4 in the second quarter before the Wave blew it open, the Roar goals (both of the two-point variety) were scored by Ptah Myers and Chris Williams. The club plays at home again on December 1. Take care, thanks for reading.