Nike Classic Cup Round 3

U13 Blue vs Darrien Dynamo

We knew that we had to win this game by a score of 5-0 to advance to the finals.  It was a little bit of pressure to know that we couldn’t give up a single goal and needed to score at least 5 to advance, but we knew that if we stayed focused during the entire game that we should not have any problems achieving this score.

The game started out well when Becks scored 1 minute into the game of of a shot from outside the box that took a funny hop before the ball reached the goalie and ended up in the back of the net.  Three minutes later we scored again when Bella (LD) made some good moves to get down the sideline and passed the ball to Carly (LF).  Carly flicked the ball onto Sizzle (LF) on the far side of the goal and she tapped the ball into the empty net.  It was a nice team goal.

The girls were very confident after scoring twice in the first 4 minutes and that is when our concentration lapsed.  After the kickoff we won the ball and played it back to one of our center defenders.  She was a little too lackadaisical with the ball and she attempted to play a flat square pass to our other center defender just outside our box.  The Darrien forward stole the soft pass and went in on a break away and I think I stopped breathing for a moment.  But, as usual, AJ came up with a huge save to keep the shutout that we needed.  It is great to have a goalie that can win games for us.  All of the girls were immediately reminded of what happened to Eclipse last year and how momentary lapses of concentration can ruin a lot of hard work.

13 minutes in Carly won a PK when she was taken down in the box and Becks converted her second PK of the weekend.  At the 30 minute mark Kari set up Jordy for us to take a 4-0 lead into the half time break.

At half time we talked about the need to stay focussed and to keep moving the ball around quickly in the back.  Darrien was only able to get into our half when our defenders made a poor pass due to either a lack of technique on their part or a lack of movement by our forwards and mids to get open.  

We wanted to score the 5th and final goal quickly so we wouldn’t be pressing at the end of the game and open ourselves up to a counter attack and after a couple of good chances we were able to put the game away.  Stokes made a move in the midfield and played the ball to Blitz who beat another defender and set up Kenzi who was streaking down towards the endline.  Kenzi crossed the ball diagonally back and it hit off one of their defenders and went into the net.

Instead of sitting on the lead we continued to press the play and made it our goal to keep the ball in the attacking half.  We were able to get the girls into lots of different positions and the game ended up 5-0 putting us in the final.

U13 White vs Spartan FC

Just like the Blues, the Whites scored in the first minute.  The scoring continued early and often en route to a 9-0 victory.  The girls played really well and had lots of fun.  This result placed the White team into the final.