State Cup Game #2 vs Dakota Rev
Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 06:15PM 
Taking nothing away from Dakota Rev, I didn't expect them to be able to put up much of a fight against us on Saturday evening. I saw them play this winter a couple times and we just have too much all around athleticism and skill for them to be able to handle for 70 minutes. This isn't saying that any team out there can't score on us or that we are guaranteed to step on the field and get a result in all our games, but IMO we would have to do something very wrong to drop either of our two remaining group games.
We came out in the 4-4-2 that we have been playing so well as of late. My thought, right or wrong, was that if we could get up early in the match we would make the rest of the game easy for us. Why? Well, we saw the Rev girls two summers ago in league/tournament play a number of times. Most games were relatively lopsided affairs and I felt that our group intimidated the Rev girls a bit. If we could finish early, we could basically affirm the feeling of "we're up against a WAY better team" that I thought ran through a number of the Rev girls' heads. They might then back down a bit and not have as much fight in them. However, the longer the game would go on at 0-0 or even 1-0 us, the more the Rev girls would feel like "hey, we can play with these guys!" I didn't really want it to get to that point as we would then be in a battle in which anything could happen.
I ended up playing Millie and Ripper up top to start, mainly for the fact that these two had been the main goal scorers against Dakota Rev for us in the past and they were known (and maybe feared).
By the way, in case anyone has failed to notice, I live in my own little world. I hope people understand that I don't think my thoughts are gosple, just giving insight (right or wrong) as to why I'm doing what sometimes.
We got off to a flying start in the 2nd minute when Ripper (RF) tore down the sidelines and crossed in a ball, looking for Mille (LF) at the far post. Millie made a play on the ball but the cross rebounded off a Dakota Rev defender and into their net.
Two minutes later, Ripper played a nifty little through ball to Getch (RM) who had made a blind side run. Getch's early cross found Millie again at the far post, and Millie slotted a low shot past the Rev GK to put us up 2-0.
I made substitutions at around the 10 minute mark, and the new attacking crew had an immediate impact as in the 11th minute Sting (RF) received a pass at the top of the Rev penalty box and hammered a shot into the upper left part of the goal.
In the 20th minute Ripper got on the scoreboard herself with a long range effort from about 30 yards out that must have taken a weird bounce in front of the Rev GK and trickled past her into the net.
Our 5th goal of the half came from a hard, low shot, again from the top of the box by Macky (CM).
At halftime, I talked to the girls about looking to keep possession of the ball, not always look to play in one direction (up the field) at one pace, but to look to change fields and change the rhythm of their play a bit. In an effort to blunt our attack while also challenging the girls to play quicker/smarter soccer, I mandated a 3-touch or less restriction on our players in the attacking half of the field. They had unlimited touches in our defending half, but needed to look for other alternatives to beat players in the attacking half of the field rather than by sheer speed and athleticism. I did tell them that if they combined and went on a breakaway, they could use more touches and try to finish.
I will never tell my girls to stop playing the game, to not try and score goals (see Handling Blowouts). I think passing around for the sake of passing around, or having players on a breakaway turn back from a clear goal scoring opportunity is more of a slap in the face to opposing players and coaches than scoring 7, 8, or 9 goals in a game through good soccer. I saw an older team yesterday simply try and play possession soccer in their own half for much of the game without even a thought of going forward to goal. No one is going to tell me that this is 1) enjoyable for their players (the team in possession), and 2) honoring the game and the other team. Don't get me wrong, I understand the thought here, but I just don't believe losing opponents would rather chase a ball around a half field for 45 minutes rather than having additional goals scored on them through creative and exciting soccer. I know which I'd prefer if I was on the losing end. This is about respecting our opponents and respecting the game.
As a side note, State Cup is the Minnesota's highest level soccer event. Teams need to understand that the goal here is to try and find the absolute best team to represent our state at Regionals. If you enter this competition, you need to be prepared to face the best and prepared to deal with potential lopsided games.
However, no matter what some people may think of me, I am conscious of opposing teams' soccer experiences. I know the Dakota Rev coaches and have a lot of respect for both of them. I also know that they will do/have done a good job of selling the State Cup experience to their team, stressing that their girls will get better by playing against better competition. They will highlight some of our strong play and their girls will benefit in the long run having direct experience with the ideas their coaches are trying to get across.
The restriction definitely had an effect on our attacking play and it was interesting to watch the girls struggle to adapt to the more forced style of play. We still generated some dangerous attacks are were rewarded for our efforts on a 41st minute corner kick. I had spoken to the girls after our Premier league game against Eden Prairie last Thursday about looking to try and drive in our corner kicks rather than simply put them up high in the air and float them in. Nash took this advice to heart as she served in a well hit ball that Maddog rocketed into the back of the net off her head from about 8 yards out.
Two minutes later, an almost mirror image of the goal was repeated from the opposite corner, with Nash once again driving in a laser that Maddog again got on the end of with her head. It was amazing. These were also not just simply headers that found Maddog standing in the right place at the right time. Maddog hit both these goals on the dead run, attacking both services aggressively finishing with powerful headers back in the direction the balls were served from.
We got our 8th tally in the 55th minute as Scratch tore up the right side on a breakaway and hit a low, hard shot into the far post that the GK did well to get to, but couldn't fully stop the powerful shot. Hannah was following up the play and scored on an easy tap in.
Out final goal came off a beautiful give and go combination between Mille and Getch at the top, left-hand side of the Dakota Rev penalty box. Getch found Bidi in the center of the area with a little square pass, and Bidi finished well with a solid strike.
The team played very well and the girls looked sharp. Our next game vs TC Fire will likely see a similar outcome as Dakota Rev beat TC Fire 3-0 in the first group game.
With this win (and Wayzata's 4-0 win over TC Fire) we have won our group (Group C). Our White team has also guaranteed a place in the semis by beating Centennial 4-0 in their second game. Our Green team pulled off what many will call a mild upset, beating Eden Prairie 2-1. Our Green team has come a long way and now also has a chance at a semifinal place if they can beat Blaine next Friday. I think I initially picked Cottage Grove or EP to win this group. So much for what I know.
In Group A, NSSA fell to Maplebrook 1-0. Wings tied St Croix 0-0, so the group will be decided next Friday when Wings meet NSSA (assuming Maplebrook will get a victory against St Croix). We will face the winner of this group in the semifinals on Saturday, and we've lucked out that their games have all been played at different times than the rest of the U13 group so I've been able to watch many of them.
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This will be a busy week for us. Training tonight at Holy Angels and Wednesday at Macalester College, game in Woodbury vs Coon Rapids on Thursday (we'll be missing Bidi and Jilly for this one), game vs TC Fire on Friday, semis on Saturday, and hopefully a long awaited State Cup final on Sunday.
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