I went to a monsoon and a soccer game broke out

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To paraphrase the late great Rodney Dangerfield: I went to a monsoon and a soccer game broke out.

Saturday night I was at City County Park, attempting to snap some pictures of a men’s summer league soccer game between the hometown Princeton Football Club and LaSalle.

When I arrived, I knew I was going to be in for a tough time

shooting, due to the overcast skies above. I did my best to figure out some appropriate camera settings, as the teams

finished warm ups.

There was a pretty good crowd of spectators on hand to cheer on the Princeton F.C. squad, which is comprised chiefly of Tiger soccer alumnus.

The two squads wasted no time getting to action, with LaSalle punching in a low goal from the right side of the Princeton net only two minutes into the contest.

Moments later, former PHS standout Matt McClure evened the score with a goal that angled past the LaSalle keeper into the back left corner of the net.

A pretty rousing start to the action, indeed, as I barely had enough time in between goals to jot down the particulars.

As the two teams played on, the sky grew darker and more ominous by the minute. I overheard an aspiring meteorologist next to me, who was consulting a radar map on a cell phone, remark that the ensuing storm should hold off long enough to get the game in.

Ten minutes into the contest LaSalle threatened to score again, launching a series of shots on goal that were deflected by Princeton defenders and keeper B.J. Arndt. Finally, they succeeded in slipping one of their shots past the Princeton defensive wall to a take a 2-1 lead.

At this point, being the astute journalist that I am, I felt it necessary to jot down “dark overcast day” in my notebook, as if the pictures I was taking without a flash (pictures that resembled scenes involving mining tunnels or deep ocean exploration) would not refresh my memory.

Six minutes later, and the situation was deteriorating rapidly. It had progressed beyond dark and overcast to just plain spooky dark, and this was around 6:30 p.m. Unfettered by the lack of illumination, Princeton managed to notch the score up at 2-2 when Jason Englehart launched a beautiful pass to Jordan Muzzerelli down field, and Muzzerelli beat the LaSalle keeper one-on-one with a shot down the middle of the goal.

Shortly after the second Princeton goal, an ominous mass of clouds appeared over the south west tree line of the park as the wind began to pick up. Brown and angry, and looking a bit like the onset of a funnel cloud, they signaled the end of the game. Immediately lawn chairs were folded and coolers were rolled at a frantic pace as everyone scattered back to the refuge of their cars.

The two teams played on for a brief moment in a bit of bravado before joining the mass exodus to the parking area.

“It was pretty wild, it came out of nowhere,” said McClure of the rogue weather front that soon produced torrential rain.

“I checked the weather a couple of hours before the game, and I hoped we could get it in, but it didn’t work out that way,” said Princeton F.C. president David Gray. “Most people were able to get out of there before the rain got too bad, but it was kind of a rush to get out of there.”

I jokingly asked Gray why the teams didn’t play through the weather. He answered that it wasn’t so much the rain that was the problem, as the lightning that accompanied it.

“My goalkeeper was getting a little nervous standing between metal pipes,” Gray chuckled.

• Princeton F.C. (8-1-1) will once again host a home contest tonight (Tuesday) at City County park at 6:30 p.m.-against Toluca CDLP.

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