Login
Find It

Rants, Raves, and Other Trivial Commentary
Powered by Squarespace
Hi-Pod Video
Sunday
Jun102007

Premier League Game #4 vs Wayzata

logo_mysa.jpgWow.  Hot day.  The girls were wilting walking from the parking lot to the field.

Up against Wayzata for the third time is as many weeks.  This was our tie breaker with Wayzata beating us in PKs to take the NSC Cup Championship over Memorial Day Weekend up in Blaine and the Bangu girls winning 2-0 in Woodbury in our first meeting in the Premier League.  Today was sure to be a battle.

This game was a rescheduled match as we were supposed to meet the week of June 25 when we would either be in, or just coming back from Regionals in Iowa.  Wayzata was accommodating enough to the reschedule, but with both teams’ schedules relatively booked for the next month, we decided that today would work best.  The girls had ODP training at 5:30PM today and there was some hesitation from the parent group about scheduling a game in conflict with the ODP session.  However, the way I saw it was that as we were imposing on Wayzata to reschedule their home game we would work with whatever worked for them.  The game was going to be played at 7PM, but Wayzata was able to push it up to a 4PM start when I informed them about the ODP training.

The teams are fairly well matched, with us having the technical and, IMO, the tactical edge and Wayzata having the size and aggressiveness edge.

My goal for today was to have the girls focus on the aspects we had been covering in our last couple training sessions; keeping our twin strikers linked and working together with our midfielders looking to be unpredictable on their forward passes, sometimes looking over the top, sometimes looking for feet, always keyed into the 2nd runner.  I mentioned to the girls prior to the game of these goals for today, encouraging them to try and forget about the end game result in favor of working on our overall team development.  Tough to do, I understand, but again, as I’ve mentioned before, if people focus on pure results, we set the girls up for possible failure when a win is not in the cards for the day.  If we can rather shift the focus on trying to succeed in other things that we can control, the girls are winners no matter what the scoreboard says after the match.  A bit cliché, but important for this age group.

During our warm up, I gave the girls a visual reminder about the possibilities going forward by illustrating the different passing options and movement with two forwards and four midfielders while the others watched.  I hoped this visual reminder would refresh the girls’ memories a bit about our last two training sessions.

The game started out well for us.  We came out and knocked the ball around a bit, were fairly solid in the back, and sprung our forwards for some good chances at goal.

Ripper (RF) was involved in our two best chances midway through the first half.  The first came when she chased down a ball played over the top of the Wayzata defense and headed to goal 1v1 against the keeper.  Wayzata’s fast defenders recovered enough to apply pressure and this, combined with an aggressive play off her line by the Wayzata GK helped see Ripper pull the shot just wide of the left post.

A few minutes later, another ball was played through to Ripper.  The Wayzata defender made the mistake of raising her hand and looking at the linesman appealing for offsides AND stopping playing in anticipation of the call.  The flag stayed down and Ripper was off again, this time to the right side of the goal.  This time, instead of going to goal she hesitated a bit then played a great little diagonal slot pass to Millie (LF) who was cutting to goal.  I heard the Wayzata coaches appeal for offsides but again the flag stayed down.  I couldn’t tell if Millie was on or off, but in the end it didn’t matter as her first time shot from about 6 yards out hit the GK square in her hands.

The half ended 0-0 with hot and tired girls on both sides of the field.

At halftime, I addressed a few key points.

  1. If our forwards are not making a play at a ball coming at one of the Wayzata defenders, they need to believe that the defender will miss it and our forwards may be off to the races.  Too many times our forwards were caught standing as long balls were played forward, only to be surprised and too slow to react once the balls were missed or misplayed by the opposing defenders.  I want our forwards to work hard and challenge every loose ball as even though they have a very slight chance of getting to the ball first, their pressure, or threat of pressure on an opposing defender may be enough to result in a forced or rushed clearance.  Either one means an increased chance that the defender will not be able to get a clean foot or header on the ball or will not be as accurate as when clearing a ball with zero pressure.
  2. We need to continue to work on being proactive on the flanks.  Many times our central mids would look to change fields and a dangerous ball to the corners would be on.  However, our wide mids tend to be reactive instead of proactive.  Proactive would mean that they anticipate the ball coming their way, realize that the central mids 1) are changing fields, and 2) have time and space to play a long ball, and move to make the pass.  I want the run to make the pass, as opposed to the mid playing the ball then our wide mids running after it.
  3. We had a couple breakdowns in the back due to lack of communication.  This is something I need to address prior to Regionals.

We continued to play fairly well in the second half.  We created a few dangerous chances that we just couldn’t capitalize on due to a breakdown in the last pass (isn’t it always on the last pass!).

Ten minutes from time we lost the ball in midfield.  Macky (CM) was battling for it and tripped over the ball.  Sophie (LD) started giggling at Macky’s flailing attempts to right herself and wasn’t able to pressure the Wayzata midfielder enough.  Macky got up and Sophie arrived only to both be split by some nifty skill by the Wayzata midfielder.  She started up field, beat Hannah (CD) and headed to goal.  Scratch (CD) came over quick as lightning to deny the shot, giving up a corner on our right side.  The corner kick was whipped in and headed clear by Maddie (LM).  She followed her header up the field as a Wayzata defender rushed to keep the ball alive in the danger area.  The Wayzata defender crossed/shot the ball from about 30 yards out into the far post side netting. Stuart, Tony’s (Wayzata’s Head Coach) would later dub this as a “crot” when we were chatting at the end of the game.  Regardless, they all count when they go in and we were down 1-0.

I thought about it for a second, then made the decision to press for the equalizer.  I motioned to Ripper on the bench and told her that we were going to pull Becs (RD) and go to 3 in the back. Ripper was going to go in up top as a third forward.

As I was busy explaining to Ripper for the third time who she was going in for and what formation we were going to move towards, frustrated that we had already missed one opportunity to make the sub due to Ripper’s confusion, the girls on the field surged forward from the throw in and were awarded with a corner kick of their own on the right side.

I can’t remember who took the kick (Jilly I think), but it wasn’t a good one.  Instead of falling into the danger area, it swung out to the top of the box.  We managed to keep it alive and send it back into the danger area, but it was then half cleared back to the top of the box.  Becs was sitting at the 18 and hammered a volley into the far post.  It was a great goal.  Isn’t that just the way it goes.  If Ripper had understood my instructions on the first go round, Becs wouldn’t have even been in the game at that point.  This is a funny game.

Game ended 1-1 in a hard fought battle.  I was a little disappointed in the result as I feel we are a better team, but Wayzata is a classy team all the way around, coach, manager, and players (to the extent that I know the players) and we will likely have many battles down the road.

* * * * *

Up next we train Monday at Holy Angels, then see Woodbury on Tuesday it what will surly be another tough test.

Tuesday
Jun052007

Region II Field Nearly Set

logo_region2.gifLots of games this past weekend.  Here are the results I know about:

 

 

 

Illinois

June 2

  • Eclipse Select 1 vs TC Comets 0 (shocker!)
  • Chicago Magic 2 vs Sockers FC 0

June 3

  • Chicago Magic 3 vs TC Comets 1

Chicago Magic Champions

Indiana

June 2

  • FC Pride 0 vs CUSC Academy 4
  • CUSC Premier 3 vs  SWISA Blasters 1

June 3

  • CUSC Premier 0 vs  CUSC Academy 2

CUSC Academy Champions

Iowa

Heartland Heat Champions

Kansas

June 6

  • Round 2

June 9

  • Finals - Likely KCFC Alliance vs BVSC Ratpack

Kentucky

Javanon 94  Champions

Michigan

Michigan Hawks Champions

Minnesota

Bangu Tsunami 93/94 Champions

Missouri

St Louis Soccer Club (Schmitt) Champions

Nebraska

June 10

  • Likely Toro Bravo or Lincoln Fusion

North Dakota

  • ?

Ohio North

June 2

  • Internationals 5 vs CASA Black 0
  • Cleveland Cobras 0 vs SCD Concordia Blue 1

June 3

  • Internationals 2 vs SCD Concordia Blue 0

Internationals Champions

Ohio South

Ohio Premier Green

South Dakota

Dakota Gold Challenge

Wisconsin

June 2

  • NEW United 3 vs Grafton Rangers 1
  • Waukesha Blasters 0 vs Mequon Red 1

June 3

  • NEW United 0 vs Mequon Red 1

Mequon Red Champions

Tuesday
Jun052007

Training - Monday, June 4

Holy Angels, 14 players.

My plan for the day was a technical session, attempting to address a few areas in which we need some serious improvement prior to Regionals; clearances from the back and judging air balls.  I also wanted to continue to work on our ball striking technique. 

From what I've experienced (and read), young girls develop the skill of tracking an object in a 3D environment slower than boys do.  I assume this is related somewhat to depth perception, but I haven't done extensive research to find out exactly what all the exact cause of this is.  All I know is that many girls on this team jump to head a ball that is 10 feet above their heads, or take an approach path to an air ball that sometimes leaves them and the ball in separate zip codes once the ball is once again Earth-bound. 

This ability to pick up on and judge a trajectory of the ball flight is a key component in the game.  With all the work we've done with heading the past few years, it doesn't do any good if the girl due to poor visual coordination can't get on the end of a cross, a goal kick, a punt, etc.  It's about moving the body into the correct line of flight  and getting the body into an area that the ball will land. 

So, on my way over to Holy Angels I stopped by Toys R Us to pick up an Air Hogs Stomp Rocket set. 

stomp_rocket_set.jpg

I had seen these things in action in my neighborhood and it looked like a very enjoyable way for the girls to work on this visual skill.  I didn't really know how it was going to work out with this age group, thinking that the Stomp Rocket toy would be better for younger players.  I was amazed at the results by the end of training.

I set up 3 stations and divided the group into 2 groups of 5 and one group of 4.  The groups would work at each station for 8 to 10 minutes or so, then rotate through the other ones.  Each station had points associated with it and each group would tally their points to keep things competitive. 

Station #1 - Stomp Rocket

The girls took turns jumping on the air pad to launch the foam-tipped rockets into sky-high parabolas for their partners to try to get their body in position (by judging the trajectory of the air rocket) to catch the falling projectile.

stomp_becs.jpg

stomp_macky.jpg

stomp_millie.jpg

stomp_nash.jpg

Station #2 - Aerial Ball Control/Dead Ball Service

Set Up

  • 1 8v8 goal with a 6x12 yard box marked with disks in front of it
  • A clearing line marked with disks 12 yards from goal
  • 1 ball striking disk 30 yards from goal

Procedure

  • One partner in goal, one partner up at the ball striking disk
  • Girls took turns striking a dead (not moving) ball at goal from 30 yards
  • The player in the goal tries to either 1) control the air ball within the controlling box, or 2) clear high balls with their head past the clearing line 12 yards away and to the outside of the field

dead_ball_service.jpg

Make It Competitive

  • + 5 points for the ball striker if they can score a goal past their teammate
  • + 1 point for the player in goal if they are able to control the flighted ball within the controlling box
  • +1 point for the player in goal if she is able to clear a high ball with her head past the clearing line

Coaching Points

  • Player in goal must move her body to get in the line of flight rather than stretch and reach (off balance) for a ball wide of them
  • Concentrate on the clearing headers, looking to put the ball high and wide up field

controlling_box.gif

Station #3 - Aerial Ball Contact/Moving Ball Service

Same as above, this time the ball striker pushes the ball forward with one touch and strikes a moving ball at goal.  Ball must be hit from outside the 25 yard mark.

moving_ball_service.jpg

I had the girls go through the entire circuit (each station) once, then brought them together to talk about the tracking/trajectory piece.

I then had the groups go through the 3 stations again, varying Stations #2 and #3 to work on clearances.

Station #2b - First Time Clearances/Dead Ball Weak Foot Low Service

Station #3b - First Time Clearances/Moving Ball Low Service

clearing_boxes.gif

This time the girls would accumulate points by clearing the ball up field.  Points were determined by accuracy and distance as shown by the numbers in red in the above illustration.

7v7 2 Goal, 1 Goal

We finished with a 7v7 half field game with one team going to a regulation sized goal and the other attacking the two 8v8 goals we used during the station work.  The GK of the team defending the two 8v8 goals had to defend both goals.

7v7_2goal_1goal.gif

If readers remember, last Wednesday the skies opened up on us at Macalester College.  I failed to wash the scrimmage vests since then.  Suffice it to say that the odor emanating from the vests was less than pleasant.  Neither team wanted to wear them so I was forced to do trivia to determine a losing team that would wear the rotten-egg-smelling Nike vests. 

This whole situation garnered a bunch of smiles and laughs which I love to see.  It also helped to have an affect on the ensuing scrimmage as I told the girls in the orange vests that if they scored, the smelly apparel could be shed and had to be worn by the other team until that team scored.  It was a VERY competitive finish to training :)

Saturday
Jun022007

Big Weekend in Region II

logo_region2.gifWith not much going on with the girls this weekend (save for lots o' ODP training), I'm spending my time over in Stillwater with our U10s and U11s in the St Croix Cup.  Both teams are playing up to the top flight in the next older age group and it should be a challenging event for them. 

By the end of the weekend we'll know the great majority of other U13 girls teams that have earned the right to represent their state at Regionals.  Here's where we are at:

Illinois

June 2

  • Eclipse Select vs TC Comets
  • Chicago Magic vs Sockers FC

June 3

  • Finals

Indiana

FC Pride, CUSC Premier, SWISA Blasters, and CUSC Academy

Iowa

Heartland Heat Champions

Kansas

June 2

  • Round 1

June 6

  • Round 2

June 9

  • Finals - Likely KCFC Alliance vs BVSC Ratpack

Kentucky

June 2

  • Javanon 94 vs Mockingbird White
  • Thoroughbreds SC vs LFC Premier

June 3

  • Finals

Michigan

Michigan Hawks Champions

Minnesota

Bangu Tsunami 93/94 Champions

Missouri

St Louis Soccer Club (Schmitt) Champions

Nebraska

June 10

  • Likely Toro Bravo or Lincoln Fusion

North Dakota

  • ?

Ohio North

June 2

  • Internationals vs CASA Black
  • Cleveland Cobras vs SCD Concordia Blue

June 3

  • Finals

Ohio South

Ohio Premier Green

South Dakota

Dakota Gold Challenge

Wisconsin

June 2

  • NEW United vs Grafton Rangers
  • Waukesha Blasters vs Mequon Red

June 3

  • Finals
Thursday
May312007

Premier League Game #3 vs Wayzata

logo_mysa.jpgA rematch of the NSC Cup championship match up 3 days ago, I wasn't very confident we'd be able to get a favorable result tonight in Woodbury.  Not that I think Wayzata is better than us, but rather because we'd be without 3 players for most of the game as Blondie and Soph had a band concert in Woodbury and would be arriving sometime after halftime, and Brownie was out with a band concert of her own down in Lakeville.  The fields at Bielenberg are huge, and having a limited number of subs would not help us.

There was some major traffic delays on the roadways, so 20 minutes prior to game time I had 8 players on site.  Enough to play I guess... but it didn't do anything to help my confidence that we would provide Wayzata with a game.  Girls started to trickle in, though between girls showing up late and those girls (having been stuck in traffic for 60 minutes while hydrating) having to find restrooms, our warm-up intensity was well below our normal standard.  Could be a long night.

The game kicked off, and before I could get very settled in my chair with a mouthful of sunflower seeds we went up 1-0.  Wayzata cleared a ball out of their end and pushed their team up the field.  Hannah, about 10 yards inside our half, sent a long ball back at the Wayzata defenders that caught some of them by surprise.  The ball bounced through them and Macky (RF) ran onto it.  She peeked up prior to reaching the ball, saw the Wayzata GK at the top of her box in no-man's land, and proceeded to send an early, high, lofted shot sailing over the keeper's head into the net.  It was a great, head's up finish by Macky and an important lift to the team.

Around the 27 minute mark, we got our second.  Jilly (LM) tried to play a long ball to Ripper (LF) in the left corner.  The Wayzata defender, with Ripper pressuring, got to the ball first and tried to play a back pass to her GK.  The pass was hit too softly, so Ripper pounced on the ball, took a touch wide of the approaching GK and hit a low shot into the net.

We played well in the first half, creating maybe one or two additional "good" chances at goal.  Wayzata was really only dangerous on their attacking corner kicks as our defenders played tough.  The first half ended 2-0.

Blondie arrived at halftime with Soph close on her heels.  The fresh legs were exactly what we needed as our midfielders were tiring quickly. 

At halftime, we talked about our wide mids pinching in to help our central mids when we didn't have the ball.  Wayzata was able to knock the ball around at times in our defending third just outside of our box, and we needed to get more numbers in the middle of the field to try and distupt this. 

We also talked about making the Wayzata defenders more predictable by having our forwards bend their runs when applying pressure as to not allow Wayzata to change fields.  We want to change fields in order to find teammates with time and space in less populated areas of the field.  I explained to the girls that if we want to change fields in possession, doesn't it make sense that we want to stop our opponents from doing the same thing?  A few light bulbs went off at that statement.  A few...

The second half saw us continue to play well.  Both teams had some dangerous chances on goal but neither team could break through to score.  The game ended 2-0, good guys.

Looking at the standings below, this is why I'm so glad we were able to participate in this league.  It is almost impossible to predict who will win a game in this league as any team can beat any other team.  Last fall, people wrote off teams like Wayzata, Coon Rapids, yet both teams have proven that they belong in this league.  When Woodbury was added to the league this past winter, again people looked to write them off, claiming that they would struggle to maintain their Premier status.  I think all these teams have dug in their heels and have something to prove, and to this point, they have all done so.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out come mid-July, but I think all the U14G Premier coaches will agree with me that all our girls will benefit from this competitive experience.

07premier_league_june1.gif