Tuesday
May062008
State Cup Game #3 vs NSSA
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 12:52PM 
Tough week. Lots of games, travel, and ODP. The girls gutted out good performances on Saturday in Madison, but I must admit, I was worried about our State Cup game vs NSSA. Tired legs, tired minds, one fluke goal resulting in a packed in defense and our run to Regionals might end today.I had asked the 94 and 95 girls to forego ODP tryouts this morning, knowing the importance of the game tonight. This was about putting personal goals aside for the good of the team. Some of the parents were a little put out that their daughters missed the first day of ODP tryotus yesterday, and were now being told to skip today by their coach. But I had spoken to ODP officials already and they were open to setting aside a make up date on May 18 for all those girls missing, know the MRL and State Cup conflicts we were facing. I'm not checking up on people, trusting that parents trust my judgement here regarding our team needs. I'm sure I'll hear if anyone attended on their own, but I think everyone saw the need for rest.
At least it was finally a beautiful spring day in Coon Rapids.
Prior to the game, we sat that girls down to talk to them about the offside trap that NSSA liked to pull on free kicks near midfield. We’d likely only have one chance to break it, so we discussed the duties of the forwards at the defensive line (to run back to the ball to stay onside or to drop to one knee if they knew they were caught offside in order to not be involved in the play). We also talked about the delayed run from deeper midfield players and the service of free kicks. I also talked to the refs prior to the game to make sure they were aware of what we would be doing in order to avoid a hasty offside flag and whistle when players were clearly in offside positions but not attempting to track down through passes. Overkill? Maybe, but we would use every possible advantage given.
We came out in our 3-5-2, and it was a dismal performance. It was just one of those games with absolutely no energy on our part. We were not sharp to the ball or in the great majority of our decision making.
To NSSA’s credit, they played us tough. They have improved their team since we saw them last fall, and their tenacity caused us problems and disrupted our mediocre flow.
We created chances, hitting two posts in the first half, one off a fantastic save from the NSSA GK. NSSA didn’t really threaten Tori in our goal at all, but I still wasn’t comfortable. Was this going to be one of those games that would see us get close a number of times, only to never get on the scoreboard, then give up a weak goal (or a good goal) late?
The pressure was getting to me. I could feel it, and though I know it wasn’t helping, I could hear it in my tone with the girls. They were giving everything they had on the field, I guess my expectations were too high, forgetting at times what the girls had gone through this week. I’ve got to keep reminding myself that this isn’t about me as sometimes I’m guilty of forgetting about this.
Halftime came with the score still deadlocked at 0-0.
We talked with the girls about continuing to look to change the point of attack across the field, looking to attack the flanks (where the space was), winning corner kicks or getting crosses off, and making the most of our chances when they next came. We needed a goal. The longer the game stayed 0-0, the more tense we’d become, knowing that a NSSA goal could end our tournament. I firmly believe we are 3 goals better than every other team at our age group here in MN. Some might see this as arrogant, but I believe in our girls’ abilities and the abilities of the coaching staff. The sky is still blue in my world, at least today.
Too focused on winning? Most of the time, no. In State Cup for a team like this, absolutely.
We pressed the attack more in the second half, though everything still seemed to be played underwater.
Halfway through the second half, we took the lead. Or I guess I should say we SHOULD have taken the lead.
We won a corner kick to the left of the NSSA goal as we faced it. Blondie (RM) stepped up to take it. The wind was blowing across the field into Blondie’s face, but slightly at our backs, towards the NSSA goal. Blondie is right footed and hit an in-swinger that saw the ball rotate right to left towards the goal. Got the picture? Good. Then someone please explain to me the physics of this situation as the ball was served, bent in, caught the NSSA GK a bit by surprise as she was moving to her left, then back to her right as the ball swerved in towards goal, hit her hands, trickled into the net, AND WAS THEN CALLED OUT OF BOUNDS BY THE AR STANDING NEXT TO BLONDIE. What?!?!? It’s just not possible for a ball to have the bend Blondie imparted onto it bend first out of bounds, then back in bounds to then bend back in towards the goal.
I was stunned at the call. Cook and I were both yelling out to the center ref to explain how that call was made, he finally had enough and came over to shut us up, telling us he’d discuss it after the game. After the game?!?!? What good would that do us?
Cook’s turn to play bad cop with the refs as I turned to the girls to instruct them that they never should talk to the refs, that’s for the coaches to take care of. Sometimes when I get on the girls a bit, Cook gets to play good cop by taking the girls off to the side to explain things in more detail. One of the benefits of having two people involved.
The ref wasn’t going to change his call, nor take time to even discuss it a minute longer, so the game continued with a goal kick. Unbelievable.
Within 10 minutes, we finally had our needed breakthrough. Another coach’s dream as Ripper (Att Mid) found herself under pressure about 25 yards out from goal. She turned out of trouble to play back the way she was now facing to Korky, formly known as KK, (Holding Mid). Korky played a first time lofted ball forward, over the stepping up NSSA defensive line, that Millie (LF) ran onto. After two bounces and from about 12 yards out to the left of goal, Millie hit a powerful half volley past the fingertips of the NSSA GK. Phew.
I was still flustered by the AR’s no-goal call, as well as by by own team performance frustrations, and by my further frustration at my frustrations. I needed to slap my butt, like I tell my girls to do after mistakes, and trigger the “leave it behind” thoughts. Time to dwell on all this later, time to now focus on the present. It was tough.
Within a few minutes, NSSA responded with their best chance of the game. The ball got played long down our left flank. The NSSA forward got to the ball first and delivered an early cross to the far post. NSSA’s left mid got in behind our retreating right mid, took a touch, then thankfully proceeded to kick the ball over the net from about 6 or 7 yards out.
That was fortunate.
“Mark!” They have 3 forwards!”, came the call from Becs at Center Def. “I know!” I lied, quickly shaken out of my self-contemplation. When had that happened?!?! Wow, I must really be off tonight, mentally exhausted like I’m sure the girls were.
We made an adjustment to drop a mid back, into a 4-4-2, but then proceeded to put the game away on another good goal.
Soph (LM) won a good header off an NSSA goal kick. The ball bounced to Ripper (CM) about 25 yards from goal, just to the left of the “D”. She won her 50/50 battle and the ball fell to Blondie (RF). Ripper made an overlapping run towards the middle of the field and Blondie played her a good ball into the space in front of her. Ripper took a good first touch and hit a high shot into the upper right corner of the goal. Phew, again.
3-0-0 in group play, 10 goals for, 0 against. We’re not playing as well as I would like, that’s for sure. However, we’re finding ways to get results when needed, a trademark of championship teams.
At least it was finally a beautiful spring day in Coon Rapids.
Prior to the game, we sat that girls down to talk to them about the offside trap that NSSA liked to pull on free kicks near midfield. We’d likely only have one chance to break it, so we discussed the duties of the forwards at the defensive line (to run back to the ball to stay onside or to drop to one knee if they knew they were caught offside in order to not be involved in the play). We also talked about the delayed run from deeper midfield players and the service of free kicks. I also talked to the refs prior to the game to make sure they were aware of what we would be doing in order to avoid a hasty offside flag and whistle when players were clearly in offside positions but not attempting to track down through passes. Overkill? Maybe, but we would use every possible advantage given.
We came out in our 3-5-2, and it was a dismal performance. It was just one of those games with absolutely no energy on our part. We were not sharp to the ball or in the great majority of our decision making.
To NSSA’s credit, they played us tough. They have improved their team since we saw them last fall, and their tenacity caused us problems and disrupted our mediocre flow.
We created chances, hitting two posts in the first half, one off a fantastic save from the NSSA GK. NSSA didn’t really threaten Tori in our goal at all, but I still wasn’t comfortable. Was this going to be one of those games that would see us get close a number of times, only to never get on the scoreboard, then give up a weak goal (or a good goal) late?
The pressure was getting to me. I could feel it, and though I know it wasn’t helping, I could hear it in my tone with the girls. They were giving everything they had on the field, I guess my expectations were too high, forgetting at times what the girls had gone through this week. I’ve got to keep reminding myself that this isn’t about me as sometimes I’m guilty of forgetting about this.
Halftime came with the score still deadlocked at 0-0.
We talked with the girls about continuing to look to change the point of attack across the field, looking to attack the flanks (where the space was), winning corner kicks or getting crosses off, and making the most of our chances when they next came. We needed a goal. The longer the game stayed 0-0, the more tense we’d become, knowing that a NSSA goal could end our tournament. I firmly believe we are 3 goals better than every other team at our age group here in MN. Some might see this as arrogant, but I believe in our girls’ abilities and the abilities of the coaching staff. The sky is still blue in my world, at least today.
Too focused on winning? Most of the time, no. In State Cup for a team like this, absolutely.
We pressed the attack more in the second half, though everything still seemed to be played underwater.
Halfway through the second half, we took the lead. Or I guess I should say we SHOULD have taken the lead.
We won a corner kick to the left of the NSSA goal as we faced it. Blondie (RM) stepped up to take it. The wind was blowing across the field into Blondie’s face, but slightly at our backs, towards the NSSA goal. Blondie is right footed and hit an in-swinger that saw the ball rotate right to left towards the goal. Got the picture? Good. Then someone please explain to me the physics of this situation as the ball was served, bent in, caught the NSSA GK a bit by surprise as she was moving to her left, then back to her right as the ball swerved in towards goal, hit her hands, trickled into the net, AND WAS THEN CALLED OUT OF BOUNDS BY THE AR STANDING NEXT TO BLONDIE. What?!?!? It’s just not possible for a ball to have the bend Blondie imparted onto it bend first out of bounds, then back in bounds to then bend back in towards the goal.
I was stunned at the call. Cook and I were both yelling out to the center ref to explain how that call was made, he finally had enough and came over to shut us up, telling us he’d discuss it after the game. After the game?!?!? What good would that do us?
Cook’s turn to play bad cop with the refs as I turned to the girls to instruct them that they never should talk to the refs, that’s for the coaches to take care of. Sometimes when I get on the girls a bit, Cook gets to play good cop by taking the girls off to the side to explain things in more detail. One of the benefits of having two people involved.
The ref wasn’t going to change his call, nor take time to even discuss it a minute longer, so the game continued with a goal kick. Unbelievable.
Within 10 minutes, we finally had our needed breakthrough. Another coach’s dream as Ripper (Att Mid) found herself under pressure about 25 yards out from goal. She turned out of trouble to play back the way she was now facing to Korky, formly known as KK, (Holding Mid). Korky played a first time lofted ball forward, over the stepping up NSSA defensive line, that Millie (LF) ran onto. After two bounces and from about 12 yards out to the left of goal, Millie hit a powerful half volley past the fingertips of the NSSA GK. Phew.
I was still flustered by the AR’s no-goal call, as well as by by own team performance frustrations, and by my further frustration at my frustrations. I needed to slap my butt, like I tell my girls to do after mistakes, and trigger the “leave it behind” thoughts. Time to dwell on all this later, time to now focus on the present. It was tough.
Within a few minutes, NSSA responded with their best chance of the game. The ball got played long down our left flank. The NSSA forward got to the ball first and delivered an early cross to the far post. NSSA’s left mid got in behind our retreating right mid, took a touch, then thankfully proceeded to kick the ball over the net from about 6 or 7 yards out.
That was fortunate.
“Mark!” They have 3 forwards!”, came the call from Becs at Center Def. “I know!” I lied, quickly shaken out of my self-contemplation. When had that happened?!?! Wow, I must really be off tonight, mentally exhausted like I’m sure the girls were.
We made an adjustment to drop a mid back, into a 4-4-2, but then proceeded to put the game away on another good goal.
Soph (LM) won a good header off an NSSA goal kick. The ball bounced to Ripper (CM) about 25 yards from goal, just to the left of the “D”. She won her 50/50 battle and the ball fell to Blondie (RF). Ripper made an overlapping run towards the middle of the field and Blondie played her a good ball into the space in front of her. Ripper took a good first touch and hit a high shot into the upper right corner of the goal. Phew, again.
3-0-0 in group play, 10 goals for, 0 against. We’re not playing as well as I would like, that’s for sure. However, we’re finding ways to get results when needed, a trademark of championship teams.
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