Nike Classic Cup Game #1 vs ELA Premier

If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. -Tallulah Bankhead

Bangu 2

ELA Premier 2 (#22 Region II)

The girls were excited for the game and we came out and played really well.  We were knocking the ball around the small field, only about 100yds long by about 60yds wide, really well.  All of the things we had been working on were showing.  We were not booting the ball up field at all.  Our defenders were calm under pressure and were always looking for a pass or to dribble instead of clearing the ball.  We had a couple of good chances in the first 15 minutes highlighted by a Sonic rocket that went off of the inside of the far post and back across the front of the goal.  It was only a matter of time before we would break them down and 18 minutes in Hannah, one of our Eclipse girls, launched a shot from out wide that the goalie could not hang onto and Sprout crashed in between their goalie and defenders to bang home the rebound. 

Half Time Points:

-Keep moving the ball quickly.  Try to switch the fields more to create space on the small field.

-Look to make longer passes.  We were getting ourselves in trouble by only making 10-15 yard passes.  Challenge yourself to complete passes of 20yds in length or more.

-If we defend well and don't give up a goal we will like how the final score will look

Second half started off as the first one had ended. 

We were moving the ball around great and 10 minutes in we earned a corner kick. 

Ricky played a great ball to the far post, eliminating the goalie.

 Sonic jumped up and headed the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

At this point their coaches who had been criticizing their girls all game stepped up their negativity a notch and yelled at their girls.  My favorite comment by one of their coaches that got a good laugh from our bench was "Don't you know you are supposed to go to that big white thing down there!  Get Moving!"  Maybe he really thinks his girls have never played before and don't know what they are doing?  But my guess is that they were smart enough on their own to figure that out.

We continued to work on possessing the ball at this point, but I was starting to get a little worried since we were possessing it in our end the whole time.  We were combining passes, but every time we lost it, they were in our half since we were not playing the ball to our forwards enough.  With about 10 minutes left we gave up a free kick 30 yards out and their girl put it in to bring the game to 2-1.  I encouraged our girls twice to play the ball a little longer so we could possess it in their end, but I did not want to yell and put pressure on them to do it.  I wanted them to figure it out for themselves.

We continued to possess it in our end and with 3 minutes left we gave up the ball around our box and they scrambled and put in the tying goal.  The game ended tied 2-2.

The result was harsh for our girls as we were clearly the better team on the field.  I was upset on the inside because I knew that drawing that game instead of winning would really hurt our chances to win the tournament.  Outside I told the girls what a great job they had done with their passing.  They had come a long ways in the month since NSR.

We talked after the game about why we should have possessed the ball in their end instead of ours and the girls all realized what can happen when you lose the ball around your goal, even if you are controlling the game. 

This was a frustrating tie for me since we played so well.  During the last 15 minutes I wanted to scream to the girls to play it long and keep it in their end but I refrained from doing so.  I knew the risk I was taking in letting the girls work it out for themselves, but I felt that if I screamed for them to play it long, I would be contradicting what I had been preaching to the girls all fall.  I also want the girls to learn how to possess the ball when they are winning late in games.  This is tough to do, but it is where I want our girls to get to.  I want them to be up 1-0 late in a tough game and be able to keep the ball for the last 10-15 minutes.  Work the ball around and not let the other team touch it.  Just like the great teams do.  Even though it is only a 1 goal lead, it looks like 3 or 4.

I hope that this result wont come back to hurt us, but even if it does in this tournament, the girls will have improved because they worked on possessing the ball late in a close regional game.