Training and Gopher Game 9-14

The plan for today was to get in a light training session before the University of Minnesota's home opener against Dayton.

Training Session

For the session I wanted to focus on ball striking, timing, and the power of positive thinking. 

I had 15 girls at the session so we divided into three groups of 5 for the activity.

I let the girls go for 90 seconds and challenged them to reach different scores with their group.

Key Points:

-Locked ankle

-Good throw

-Quick feet

-Belief that you will hit a good volley.  If the ball comes to you and don't hit a solid volley because you are afraid to mess up, more often than not you will mess up.  You need to believe in your abilities.

-Ability to recover from a mistake and get back on track.

For fun and a challenge to end the training I had the girls attempt the rotation using only thier heads.  No hands.  We were able to get 6 headers in a row.  Pretty good.

U of M Game vs Dayton

After the session we walked over to the stadium to watch the U of M play Dayton.  We were having our Bangu Tsunami Club Night at the game and it was great to see so many Bangu girls out there.  The stands were filled and it must have energized the Gophers because they came out great and scored a nice early goal.  Dayton battled back to tie it before half but the Gophers took the early lead in the second half again only to see Dayton tie the game up in each half to go up by one goal.  But each half the Dayton team made adjustments and scored to tie the game up.  As the game headed to overtime many people got up to leave, but I was happy that our girls stuck around to see the end.  Dayton ended up scoring the winner on a set piece in the second overtime.   

The starting 11 for the Gophers looked really good when they were out there.  I hope to get out more and watch this group play some more this fall. 

Here is the remaining home schedule.  Go Gophers.

Fri, Sep 28

Michigan *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Sun, Sep 30

Michigan State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

1 p.m.

Fri, Oct 19

Ohio State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Sun, Oct 21

Penn State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

11 a.m.

Fri, Nov 02

Iowa *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Thu, Nov 08 -  Sun, Nov 11

Big Ten Tournament

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

TBA