It was a long Saturday of soccer matches this past weekend beginning at 10:15 AM with the boys followed up by games going through 4:30 PM. While we were all a bit tired afterwards, my face took a beating from the nice day of sunshine. Hopefully, my lobster face will subside before next weekend.
The day had Team 1 Black on deck for one match and Team 2 Red up for a double header.
It was Team 1's first match of the season and by the end of it, they were dragging. It's one thing to put a lot of energy out during training, but to play at game speed for fifty minutes is much more demanding. While they had their mojo going it was fun to watch. The majority of these girls have been together for a season already and it shows in their trust of one another and in their abilities no matter who the opponent is. They never seem to worry about sizing up the other team. They ask who the other team is and that's it, time to play them.
While everyone was doing their thing, I saw some really good things out of Lilly, Payton and Josie. Lilly was constantly frustrating the other team with her persistent patience no matter where she was on the field. It was a pretty simple game plan she had; put herself between the ball and the attacker or defender, push it backward a step or two, turn it and move. What was great to see was she wasn't doing the work just to show her skill, but with a purpose. Last session she sometimes got stuck in one spot, turning the ball one way then another, but Saturday she seemed to have figured out it only took one move to beat her opponent.
Josie subbed in to help out from her team and had already had a match that morning. She has been working very hard over the last couple years going from not ever having played to being one of our best ball control specialists. Her one frustration has been finishing. She gets it all the way down the field and isn't able to score.
Now I have always told all of my players, the person who consistently takes the ball down field is usually not going to the one who scores, it's the poacher who ends up with most of the goals. However, today she was able not only put one in towards the end of the game, but she had to fight through a keeper who knocked her down and have the persistence to get back up quickly and get the ball into the net. She came off limping a bit, but seemed to be more okay with her result.
Payton, like her sister, has had pains finishing off and putting it the net, but for different reasons. She really has a good understanding of where other players are on the field and is looking to advance the ball up as far as she can, which includes thoughtful passing. While this is great, I am looking for her to step outside her comfort zone and hold onto the ball longer and use her skills to take it in herself. The result Saturday was one in the back of the net. She also kept the team on top in the final seconds of the game by making a great save as keeper after her team just quit running back to help her. She didn't waiver and stood up a 3 on 1!
One last brilliant display of the trust this team has in each other was off a throw in by Josie from deep in the corner of our attacking end past defenders to Jenny who made it past two more defenders making a thoughtful pass to Karolyn who was poaching in front of the keeper for a score. It was as if they'd drawn it up as a play, well done ladies!
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