A Weekend in Iowa - Day 2

I got to the fields around 8AM to catch part of our U13 boys game.  They are a solid team and I think they'll surprise some people this year.

I had the U11 game at 9:30AM, so I left the boys game at 8:45AM when the girls arrived for warm-up.  The U13s arrived at 10:15AM for their 11AM kick off, but luckily the U13s played on an adjacent field to the U11s, so I was able to get them going with their warm-up while I finished the U11 game.

For the U13s, in the weeks leading up to the Richmond event, I think I had panicked a bit and tried to force-feed the girls with too much stuff.  They were already nervous about the trip out east as it was our "big, plane trip event" of the year, and the stress we all felt translated into poor play overall. 

I changed things up a bit between Richmond and this weekend's event in Des Moines by lightening the mood at training and focused on being uber-positive in everything I did with the girls.  The result was two weeks of some of the best training we've done all year, and I was confident coming into this weekend that we would play well. 

I did not know much about the teams in our group, though my guess was that Homer (IL) would be the game that would eventually decide the group on Sunday.  KC Heat (KS) and Windy City Pride (IL) were crap shoots.  If we could make it out of our group as the #1 seeded team, we would likely face Chicago Magic (IL) or Toro (NE) in the final.  I was looking forward to this as we've never beaten either of those teams, though I've held firm to the fact that we are a better team than both.

In our last two regional/national events (Eclipse Select Challenge Cup last fall and the Jefferson Cup this past March), we've scored a total of 4 goals in 7 games.  3 of these goals game in one game against Ohio Elite (OH) last fall, the other lone goal against Hockessin (DE) this spring.  I was looking forward to bucking the trend this weekend, and though our competition was not going to be at the level of the past two events, playing well and scoring goals in this event would be a great confidence booster heading into State Cup later this month.

Game #1 vs KC Heat (4-0)

I knew the girls came ready to play when we scored some incredible goals during our crossing/finishing warm-up.  There was a buzz in the air and the girls could feel it - we got off to a flying start. 

Maddog (playing left forward) put us up 1-0 6 minutes into the game, finishing a great diagonal through ball played in by Lily. 

Two minutes later and Maddog struck again, hammering home a near-post rocket from about 16 yards out after a cross from Lily.  Great way to start the weekend. 

Ten minutes later, Sting followed a weak shot in from the left side, snuck in between a defender and the GK to tap the ball across the goal with the outside of her right foot to Macky who was there to tap it in. 

3-0 after the first half (we were playing 30 minutes halves this weekend), and no question about which team was the more dominant on the field.  Though we continued to pressure the KC team in the second half, we could not find more goals for the first 20 minutes. 

In one of KC's few attacks into our defending third of the field, their left forward sent a hard cross into the box that skipped up and into Soph's hands blocking her face with a reflex movement.  Mudd (GK) made a fantastic diving save to push the low shot past our right post, and a few minutes later Ripper put the game out of reach, taking a KC defender one 1v1 and blasting a shot into the back of the net past the on rushing GK. 

4-0 and a very solid performance. 

After the first 10 minutes, I began moving the girls around into different playing positions.  At first the girls looked at me like I was daft when I informed them that they would be re-entering the games in a "weird" position.  "But Mark!  This is a regional event!  I can't play defense/forward/in the middle of the field/out wide/etc!"  The idea is to give the girls this out of comfort zone experience in big events as much as possible.  By me showing my confidence in their abilities to play multiple positions, they gain confidence.

After the game, it was time for a quick lunch of pepperoni pizza slices and Diet Coke, then off to the U12 girls game at 12:30PM.  The U11s came next at 2:00PM, then our (U13) second game of the day at 3:30PM against the Windy City Pride.  Windy City had lost their first game to Homer 2-0 in their first game.  I knew that we needed to at least match this score in order to have a chance to advance as the top seed in the event of a tie versus Homer on Sunday. 

Game #2 vs Windy City Pride (6-1)

It took us a while to settle into this game.  Windy City was a rough, physical team and the ref let a lot of the play go.  I didn't mind this as I don't think there was a lot of fouls missed, just a lot more physical contact than most refs allow at the younger girls age group.

Jilly went down hard after a tackle down the right flank that brought medics over to our bench and kept her out of the rest of the game with what I thought was a slight concussion. 

We finally broke through in the 27th minute with Getch (attacking mid) finding Millie (point) with a through ball.  Millie beat a defender, went 1v1 against the GK, and tucked the ball home.

Two minutes later, Millie put us 2-0 up finishing a great cross by Bidi (right forward).

At half time, we talked about focusing on the things that we found successful in the first half.  Namely, this was playing longer balls out of the center of midfield to the corners, and using our speed to get crosses into the box. 

We came out in the second half on fire, with Mac (point) finishing a breakaway after a great slot pass through from Getch (attacking mid). 

Four minutes later we scored one of our best goals of the tournament.  The movement started on our right side with a few quick combination passes from our right midfielder and defender.  We changed the point of attack through Hans at holding mid, who sprung Maddog (left defender) down the left side of the field.  Maddog beat two defenders and sent in a great low cross that Sting finished at the back post.  Probably 8 to 10 passes in the sequence and a nice finish. 

Six minutes from time, Ripper (attacking mid) sprung Scratch (right forward) on a long diagonal ball from midfield, and Hans (point) finished Scratch's cross. 

Two minutes later, the Pride's left forward cut inside the field about 20 yards from our goal, beat our right back, and sent in a high cross/shot that sailed over Mudd's head. 

At the 58th minute, Scratch once again broke free down the right side, thanks to another long diagonal ball from center midfield.  This time, Becs (point) was in the middle to score our 6th.

6-1 in another convincing performance.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!