Training - Thursday, April 19

In prep for our first State Cup game on April 30th, I wanted out next 3 sessions to be fairly intensive.  We'd then taper down next week a bit heading into the game the following Monday.

We had the field tonight from 8:00PM - 9:00PM.  I had the girls arrive at 7:30PM to tally up their Individual Player Goals from last weekend, as well as do some fun technical warm-ups prior to a good, hard workout.

As I called each girl over to talk about their past weekend's goals, I had the girls work on their individual juggling.  About halfway through the player meetings I called out for the girls to switch to feet juggling only.  I heard a voice pipe up from the pack "Do we have to switch to feet only if we're on a record?!?!"  It was Lily who asked the questions, and I shouted back that if people were on records that they could continue to use any part of their body to juggle, and then didn't think more of it as I continued on with the player meetings. 

A few minutes later, I looked down and my list and saw that I was missing info from three girls.  Bidi was sick and Jilly got home too late from a track meet to attend, that left Lily.  I scanned the group of girls and saw her off at one end juggling.  She looked pretty intense, so I walked over to her and asked her about her Individual Player Goals.  She said she got all three in the first game (good for her!) and that she was still on a juggling record.  I let her continue and asked the other girls to give her space as to not interfere with her progress. 

With no more meetings to do, I began our 3-Man Juggling Challenges.

I. 3-Man Juggling Challenges

Set Up

• Players work in groups of three with one ball, lined up as shown below

Procedure

• Coach calls out a specific Juggling Challenge for the groups to work on
• Groups practice the challenge for a few minutes, then have a race to see which team can get to 10 successful attempts first
• Teams count out loud to 10 as they go so that other groups know where they are at
• First team to 10 yells out "Whoo hoo!" and sits down
• Other teams take 10 minus their score (times 2 if you want) and do that many fun/fitness punishments (Flying Austrians, Donkey Kicks, Push Ups, Sit Ups, etc)
• Coach give the groups a new challenge to work on and then race, with the team that won the previous race to 10 having to wait until they hear another group get to 1 (or 2) before starting

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Technical coaching

Challenge #1

• A tosses the ball to B
• B heads to A
• A heads over B to C
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A

Challenge #2

• A volleys to B
• B heads back to A
• A heads over B to C
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A

Challenge #3

• A volleys to B
• B skip heads it backwards to C
• C heads over B to A
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A (note ball must be passed from A to C during this switch)

Challenge #4

• A volleys to C
• C heads to B
• B skip heads it backwards to A
• Rotation: A to B, B to C, C to A (note ball must be passed from A to C during this switch)

With two girls missing, we had perfect numbers for this exercise... except for the fact that Lily was still juggling.  The other girls got going on this exercise with the leftover group of two (that Lily would eventually join) practicing what they could. 

Lily finally came over, out of breath but with a HUGE smile on her face.  1,154!  Wow.

II. 3-Team Challenge

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5, each team in different color vests
• One 50x40 grid with two goals on the endlines and two Pugg goals on each sideline (as shown below)
• Another area set up with a goal for shooting
• Two teams (blue and gold) start in the 50x40 grid, the third team (green) starts in the shooting area

Procedure

• There are three stages to this activity, and each stage consists of 3 x 4 minute rounds - round #1 blue v gold in the 50x40 area with green in the shooting area, round #2 green v gold in the 50x40 area with blue in the shooting area, round #3 green v blue in the 50x40 area with gold in the shooting area

Stage 1

50x40 grid - 5v5 Possession

Set Up

• Grid is already be set up
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with an extra soccer ball on each touchline to use in the event the ball in play gets kicked far off

Procedure

• Teams play possession soccer, trying to keep the ball away from their opponents
• If the ball goes out of play, play kick ins (passes in to teammates) or dribble ins

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for a team if they complete 5 consecutive passes without the defending team touching the ball

Shooting area - Summersault Volleys

Set Up

• Players line up 25 yards from goal with all the soccer balls
• Disk line 15 yards from goal

Procedure

• First player in line does a summersault, second player in line serves a ball underhand in front of the summersaulter
• summersaulter has to get to the ball before the third bounce and shoot on goal
• Ball cannot cross the 15 yard line marked with disks, so serves must be good (not too far forward)
• summersaulter retrieves their soccer ball after the shot, server becomes the next summersaulter

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals
• +3 points if the ball hits the back of the net in the air

Coaching Points

• Toe pointed down, ankle tight and locked through impact
• Wait for the ball to drop low, contact should be made below knee height
• Upper body over the ball
• Looking for top spin on all shots

Comments

• The point of the summersault is not only to make it fun and physically demanding, but also to disorient the players and force them to find the bouncing ball quickly (remember, only 2 bounces allowed), then compose themselves for a finish

Stage 2

50x40 grid - Two Goal Game

Set Up

• Grid is already set up
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with an extra soccer ball on each touchline to use in the event the ball in play gets kicked far off

Procedure

• Teams try to score goals in either of two Pugg goals

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for each goal

Coaching Points

• Don't force the attack on one goal
• Look to draw defenders in to one side of the field with short possession passes, then change the point of the attack and look to go to the other goal

Shooting area - Lay Backs

Set Up

• 2 players line up 25 yards from goal in the shooting line
• 3 players are about 10 yards closer to the goal off to the side in the passing line with all the soccer balls

Procedure

• First player in the passing line plays a back pass to the first player in the shooting line and then follows their pass to wait their turn in the shooting line
• Shooter must shoot first time
• Shooter then retrieves their soccer ball and gets in the passing line

Make It Competitive

• +1 point for all goals
• +3 points for all goals below the midpoint of the goal (encouraging low strikes on goal)

Coaching Points

• Toe pointed down, ankle tight and locked through impact
• Upper body over the ball
• Think about striking the top half of the ball

Stage 3

50x40 grid - 5v5 to Goal

Set Up

• Grid is already set up
• 1 GK, 4 field players
• One ball in the middle to start play with, with extra soccer balls in each goal

 

Procedure

• Teams try to score goals

Make It Competitive

• +5 points for each goal

Coaching Points

• Not many, let them play

Shooting area - Near Post Finishing

Set Up

• 2 players line up at the top of the 18 yard box in the shooting line
• 3 players are on the end line about 15 yards from the goal post in the passing line with all the soccer balls

Procedure

• Shooter starts a run towards the far post, then sprints to the near post area
• Passer drives a low, hard ball in for the shooter to try and finish first time
• Passer then moves to the shooting line
• Shooter then retrieves their soccer ball and gets in the passing line

Make It Competitive

• +3 point for all goals

Coaching Points

• No big, long leg swings here as the ball is coming in fast
• Looking for simply redirects while running at speed

III. 5v5 Winner Stays

Set Up

• 3 teams of 5
• 50x40 yard field

Procedure

• Blue vs green with orange sitting out
• First team to score stays on the field, losing team exists and the team waiting jumps in
• The team that scores can immediately grab the ball and attack the opposite goal
• Waiting team must enter and organize quickly

Make It Competitive

• It is

Coaching Points

• Not many, let them play

This was a tough session for the girls.  I had to shorten the last stage to 3 minute games as the girls were tiring.  It was a very competitive and lively session though and the girls loved it!

Training - Tuesday, April 17

Had a possession session planned for today, but then Umut (our U13G Green team coach) called me around 5:45PM and notified me that his team was going to jump on a field outside somewhere and that I could have a full 1/2 of the dome (as opposed to a 1/4).  Wanting to make use of the space available, I hastily scribbled up a new session in the parking lot.

I. Finding the Link Players

Set Up

• 2 teams of 9 players (we only had 17, but I used our assistant coach Megan as a GK for one of the teams)
• 65x45 yard field with goals at each end
• Divide the field into three zones as shown below
• Each team has 3 players in each of the two endzones, and 2 players in the middle zone
• One player from each team in the two endzones has a ball (so two balls per team)
• One GK in each endzone as well

Procedure

• Teams pass and move, keeping two balls per team in play
• Players may pass to other teammates in their own endzones, but the object is for each team to get the ball to their two players (link players) in the middle zone as much as possible
• Link players must play as quickly as possible, passing to an open teammate in the opposite endzone to the endzone from which they received the pass

 

Make It Competitive

• Challenge the players to play as quickly as possible, stressing quality of passes throughout the entire exercise

Coaching Points

• Angle of approach by link players - side on, checking back at an angle
• Link players need to know what their options are prior to receiving the ball - head on a swivel, peeks over your shoulder
• Constant movement ball all players, yet keep your team shape

Progression

Same as above, but now the link players can play the way they are facing using a one-touch pass.  This pass can go back to the player who played them the ball, or to another player in that endzone

II. Play Through Situational Starts - GK Outlet Pass

By Play Through I mean that two teams are going to goal, no pressure/no defenders, with the only obstacles being the other team who is going to goal at the same time in the opposite direction.  Though no opposition can dispossess the team with the ball, there are still opposition players who need to be seen and avoided.

Situational Starts means that each time a sequence to goal is begun, it is started by a specific situation.  This could be any restart that you think your team needs work on (throw ins, corner kicks, free kicks, balls played in behind the defense, etc).

Set Up

• Same as above, this time directional (gold attacks one goal, green attacks the other)
• This means that each team now has designated defenders, mids, and forwards
• Defenders clear their zone to the dividing line, as do the attackers in the same zone

Procedure

• Central defenders have the ball for each team and begin each team's sequence by playing the ball back to their GK - this is not a pass back, just simulating a ball rolling back to the GK that the GK can pick up
• Wide defenders recover to the middle of the field, and once the GK has the ball in their hand, break out wide for an outlet pass from the GK
• Teams play to goal

Make It Competitive

• Challenge the players to play as quickly as possible, stressing quality of passes throughout the entire exercise - which team does it better?

Coaching Points

• Wide defenders recover to the middle of the field, simulating recovery runs on a through ball
• Once the GK has the ball, wide defenders spring wide (not forward!) and adjust their body to face up field in preparation of a hand pass from the GK
• Outlet pass from GK should be low and hard, rolled if possible, to make it as easy for the wide defenders to control as possible - never play the ball out to a defender who is not facing up field
• Whichever defender does not receive the pass from the GK should move to the middle of the field to cover
• GKs can fake to one side and play to the other
• Once the wide players receive the ball, that team can go to goal
• Though no opposition, teams don't always have to be direct to goal at 100mph - be creative but play quick

Note the following progressions are only shown using the green team.  Gold is doing the same thing at the same time, attacking the opposite goal (Play Though)

Progression #1 - Find your link player

Wide defender who receives the ball must play to a link player, then the team is free to go to goal

Progression #2 - Change the point of attack (link to link)

Wide defender who receives the ball must play to a link player.  This link player must find the other link player with a pass, then the team is free to go to goal

Progression #3 - Change the point of attack (link to opposite defender)

Wide defender who receives the ball must play to a link player.  This link player must play the opposite side defender in, then the team is free to go to goal

Progression #4 - Bypass the midfield

Wide defender who receives the ball must  bypass their midfield players and find a target forward with a longer pass, then the team is free to go to goal

Progression #5 - Bypass the midfield, play the way you're facing

Wide defender who receives the ball must  bypass their midfield players and find a target forward with a longer pass.  The target player must then find a midfield player, then the team is free to go to goal

III. 3-Zone Game - Follow Your Pass

Set Up

• Same teams and field as above

Procedure

• Teams play 9v9 to goal
• Ball always starts with the GK - 2 out of the 3 forward in each defending zone kneel down and are out of the play, leaving 1 forward to defend against the three defenders + GK
• Players cannot leave their assigned zone unless they pass the ball forward into the next zone and follow in support
• Once the ball enters the attacking team's attacking zone, all attacking mids and forwards as live and may leave their respective zones
• If the ball is turned over and the player who wins the ball can complete a negative pass (a back pass), the game is reset with the ball beginning in the other GK's hands (the hands of the GK who was just on the defending team

Coaching Points

• Composure building out of the back (4v1)
• Don't force passes forward as you will always have numbers up in your defending and midfield zones
• Movement by link players in the middle zone to create space for passes from their defenders - lateral movement as well as checking away from the defenders to create space in which to check back to receive a pass

IV. 9v9 Free Play

Remove the zone restrictions and play 9v9 to goal

OK, I know.  Lots of stuff for one session.  However, my goal was to introduce this type of activity to the girls and give them an idea of what can be done with it.  We played 3-zone games like this with the Thunder all the time.  You can tweak the game to suit many different coaching topics as there is a ton of stuff that can be addressed here.

My space tonight was a little short.  When we get outside, I'd probably use 75 to 80 yards of length.  Regardless, the girls had fun and worked hard.  I love yelling "Time!" at the end of practice and getting a bunch of surprised looks from the girls... "Is practice over already?!?!"

Lessons From Iowa

I was very proud of the girls play this weekend.  Throughout the entire event, I gave the majority of the girls (excluding Mudd at GK) looks at multiple playing positions.  This out of comfort zone experience and the success that each player found in various positions will help tremendously with the individual and team overall development. 

Here's a graphical depiction of the different positions each girl saw in the four games this weekend.  Note that I didn't add in our 3-2-2-3 formation to this mix.

I know some may say that playing all the girls in different positions must have worked against building a good team rhythm this weekend, and that not focusing on keeping all the girls in their "best" positions cost us the trophy in the end.  I'd agree with that.  I know that if I played only what I thought was our starting 11 players for the majority of the time, we likely would have walked away with this event hands, or feet, down.  That's not youth coaching in my book.  For those who have read through this site a bit, you know I don't like losing.  However, coaches who put results above all else at the younger age groups and doing the kids a vast disservice.  I bet I did more substituting that every other team in this event to give ALL the girls playing time, and I'm willing to bet the house on the fact that no other team had as many players play as many different positions as we did.  The girls are winners in the end.

Other thoughts/lessons from the weekend:

• 11 out of our 14 goals came as a direct result of wide play/crosses
• I need to do some work on midfield shape as our three mids tend to play wherever they want to
• We attack well from the wide back position, but need work on playing these wide backs in (the runs these backs make to get into the attack, the thoughts behind the passes coming from our central players, etc)
• We need to work on keeping possession of the ball once our GK has it, to become more dynamic and unpredictable with the ability to start quick counter attacks from our GK's hands through distribution to our wide players instead of always punting the ball up field
• Our defenders find our target players well, but our mids need to provide better support (distance, angles, etc)
• Managing 3 teams in one weekend is tough/tiring
• Getting the attention of U11 girls at a team dinner is like corralling cats
• Sometimes when an audio book starts out slow, 9 CDs later it's still pretty slow
• Even if a State Patrol trooper has already pulled someone over, it does not mean they won't leave that guy in the dust (and free) to chase after another car doing 90 on I35
• The Nike Outlet in Medford has now morphed into a Clearance Store (nice!)
• You are free and clear all weekend if you randomly make up a hotel room number to give to 10 year old girls so they don't bug you... unless of course that room actually exists in the hotel and happens to be occupied by an elderly couple who somehow manage to force a confession out of the young girls as to who told them this was their coach's room
• It's not as hard as you might think to hit a coach on the head with an ice cube from the 4th floor balcony in the hotel atrium
• If you haven't consumed alcohol in a while and spend 9 hours out in the sun without food or water, one beer can make a long-haired team dad attractive from a distance
• I'd make a million dollars if I could come up with a device that parents could point towards a tournament score board and then get an immediate print out of all the possible scenarios that would see their team into the championship game
• Though compensated at roughly $0.27/hr, I love the work I do!

A Weekend in Iowa - Day 3

We had a 9AM game against Homer.  It looked to be shaping up into another beautiful day weather-wise and I was looking forward to the competition the girls would face today.

Game #3 vs Homer Hawks (2-1)

Homer had lost to KC Heat yesterday 2-1, and beat Windy City 2-0.  Not only did this give me confidence that we stood a very good chance of competing well this morning against what I initially thought was going to be the toughest game of the group, but it also meant that unless we lost the game 3 or 4 to zero, we were already in the finals.

Once again we started out strong, when in the 4th minute, Soph (left back) sent in a hard far post cross that the GK couldn't handle.  Scratch (right forward) pounced on the loose ball to give us a 1-0 lead.  We held the lead for about 3 seconds, until the center ref noticed the linesman's flag frantically waving around, and the goal was called back for offsides.

14th minute, Lily (holding mid) played in a long diagonal through ball to Mille (point) who went 1v1 with the GK and slid the ball home for the 1-0 lead.  No flag waving linesman this time.

47th minute, Maddog (left forward) played in a low, hard cross that one of the Homer defenders knocked into their own net to put us up 2-0. 

The game wasn't that close as we carried the great majority of play.  Two minutes from time, Homer was awarded a corner kick and we got caught napping.  They sent two girls out to the corner to play a short one, and not one of our players reacted to the movement.  Homer sent a dangerous ball into our box from the short corner, we half cleared it, and the resulting pressure in our area saw a Homer forward finish to bring them back to 2-1.  Though we ended up winning the game, I was disappointed that we tuned out on the set piece that started this whole sequence.  I talked to the girls after the game about the importance of staying tuned in the entire 60 minutes, and this was a good learning experience for us as a whole.

3-0 in group play, scoring 12 goals and allowing 2... we were rolling.

Championship Game vs Chicago Magic (2-4)

We've played this team twice in the last two years, losing 1-0 and tying 0-0.  I know we're the better team and was looking forward to proving it today.  The girls had played very well all tournament long and I didn't expect much to change in the final.

We came out on fire, again, and carried much of the play for the first part of the half.  Midway through, at least I think it was midway through as I was too engrossed in the game to take exact notes, the Magic went up 1-0 on what I call a typical goal at this age group.  A high, not too powerful lob/shot at goal that goes over the keeper's outstretched arms. 

About 2 minutes from time, the Magic go up 2-0 as their one stud player dribbled through four of our girls, all of whom could have put a tackle in but none of whom did, ripped a shot the was blocked by one of our defenders.  The ball ricocheted to a wide open Magic player on our right side and she put the ball away with a nice finish. 

To our girls credit, they took the kick off, stormed down the right side of the field and Sting (right forward) sent in a low cross to Bidi (point).  After a little scramble, Bidi got a good shot off that whistled by the Magic GK to pull us back to 2-1.  My watch said 31 minutes, their coach was livid at the extra time added on.  Not sure what it was added on for as there were no injuries, nor tear-your-shirt-off-and-airplane-run-and-karate-chop-the-corner-flag-and-take-up-2-minutes-on-the-clock post goal celebrations by either team.  My only thought was that for the first time in the event, the sideline ref on our side of the field would hold all the girls at midfield until the players coming off the field were truly off the field, prior to letting the subs enter.  This took time every time and is the only reason I can think of for the added time at the end of the half.  We'll take it...

It was a huge goal for us just before half and the girls were excited.  I knew we'd come back to tie it in the second half and told the girls so.  We switched to a more attacking formation to what I call a 3-2-2-3 by asking one of our center backs to push forward up into midfield as we looked to press for the equalizer.  We got it less than 10 minutes later as Soph (left back) played a pretty give and go with Sting (left forward) down our left flank.  Soph hit in a low, hard, one-time cross into the box from Sting's return pass to Bidi (point).  Bidi beat her marking defender and blasted a shot past the on rushing Magic GK.  It was a great goal!

Maybe at this point I should have gone back to our 4-1-2-3 base formation.  However, I felt we had the momentum and wanted to go for the knock out punch.  We carried the run of play, but ended up conceding a goal to the Magic's one stud player with about 10 minutes left to play.  We pushed forward into the attack again, and gave up another goal a few minutes after that.

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!