Photo: Courtesy of Glenn Riegel/Reading United

Welcome back! We returned from our trip to South Carolina to enjoy yet another exciting week here in Reading, PA. With a schedule full of important league fixtures, along with our acquirement of internet and cable, it was a week full of breakthroughs both on and off the field.

On the Field

After the disappointment of our U.S. Open Cup loss to the Charleston Battery, three league matches in nine days looked like the perfect way for us to rebound. Coming into the stretch with a record of one win and one draw, we needed some favorable results to break away from our competitors. After defeating the Central Jersey Spartans 3-0 in the first match, we then went on the road to beat the Brooklyn Knights 3-2, before finishing the stretch with a 2-0 victory over the Baltimore Bohemians. With three wins from three games, we put ourselves in first place of the division, a position we do not intend to vacate.

The week’s training also provided opportunities for breakthroughs. After the doubleheader weekend against the Spartans and Knights, coach Brendan Burke informed us we would play a friendly match against a National Premier Soccer League side the following Wednesday. The game would provide players who had seen limited playing time so far the chance to showcase their talents and hopefully break into the first team. The NPSL team cancelled however, so we held an intrasquad scrimmage instead. Despite the blazing mid-day heat, the game was very competitive, with every player looking to stake their claim for more attention or justify the amount of time they had received so far.

The most notable breakthrough of the day was provided quite literally. Ten minutes into the match, Damion Lowe mistook fellow defender Scott Parkinson’s (very round, to be fair) head for the ball and attempted to clear it out of the stadium. After some initial concern, all seemed well when Scott, after waving away the little birdies flying around his head, continued on for the rest of the game. Scott later discovered the accident had broken his nose, eye socket, cheekbone, jaw, and roof of his mouth. Ouch! Needless to say, those who must visit the trainer will do so rather sheepishly for the next few weeks after Scott’s manly display.

Off the Field

After weeks with almost no internet and no cable, the boredom in my house was becoming almost unbearable. When napping became the most exciting way for us to alleviate our problem, we knew something had to change.

Early in the week, we thought we had made a substantial breakthrough. Courtesy of the unknown neighbor whose WiFi we were pirating, we were able to stream Netflix to our television from my Xbox. We rejoiced at the hundreds of movies and television shows we now had access too (albeit with some buffering), believing the days of boredom were behind us. Only days later, our dream was shattered when our mystery Internet benefactors apparently forgot to pay their bill. It was like taking fire away from the cavemen, and we were crushed. The only one who seemed to get any entertainment out of our Internet-less predicament was my summer class professor. He seemed quite amused when, during our first class video chat, I informed him I was participating in the session from the parking lot of a Lowe’s hardware store.

After the brief taste of freedom we experienced through Netflix, we couldn’t go back to our previous no-entertainment lifestyle. So we finally ordered Internet and cable from Comcast, just in time for the upcoming European Championships and summer Olympics.

Another domestic breakthrough came in the form of canned poison. Perhaps due to some poorly sealed windows and doors, or more likely because of our borderline refusal to take out the trash regularly, earwigs had begun to invade our home. We would find them on our kitchen counters, scampering around the floors, and even in the couch.

That was all slightly tolerable at first, but when I started finding them in my clothes, it became personal. Wielding a can of Raid, I mercilessly laid down a protective barrier of death-spray around the perimeter of our kitchen and in the basement where I sleep. The results were satisfying, yet horrifying. Within a day, I found at least ten dead earwigs in the basement near my bed, and in the kitchen I found even more. Hopefully the Raid keeps doing its job so I don’t wake up to find one crawling on my face at night.

You can watch Kyle and Reading United host the Philadelphia Union Saturday, June 9 at 7pm at Albright College. You can purchase tickets before the game here.