3/1 Rosemount League vs U12 South

Today was our final game for the Rosemount League.  The league has been good for us since every single game we were in was competitive.  This game would be no different.  The first half was very even, but every time we attacked we lacked conviction to go to goal.  We put a couple of passes together here and there and took a couple of weak shots, but we did not look like we wanted to score.  At the 19 minute mark the South girls took a shot that AJ made a great diving save on, but the rebound went right to one of their girls and she put home the rebound and the South took a 1-0 lead into half time.

At half time we talked about needing each player to have the confidence to go to goal when she gets the ball.  This does not mean that you have to dribble 5 people, but simply that when you get the ball you are looking to create a chance to score for yourself or for a teammate.

The second half started and we were a new team.  I was very happy to see all of our girls attacking the goal and being relentless around the ball.  We were combining, putting in crosses, pressuring them into turn overs and we were shooting again. 

At the 40 minute mark, Mad Dog showed the conviction to score that we talked about at half time and she took on two defenders in the box and powered a shot by the goalie to tie the game.  I was really happy to see this because during our last couple of games she had been tentative going to goal and she had kept passing the ball off instead of being her usual attack minded self. I had talked to her during the first half about and told her to stop deferring to her teammates all the time and look to score.

I had also had this same talk with Carly at the end of the first half and I encouraged her to try to dribble by defenders and look to score instead of always looking to pass.  I wanted her to be more aggressive and go to goal.  Throughout the second half Carly went in harder on loose balls, beat players 1v1 and had numerous dangerous chances because she was looking to score first.  It was a great change in mentality.

Just after we had scored and I was preparing to make our final subs LK said "Put me in up at forward, I'll score . . . Or put me back at defense."  LK usually plays defense and midfield for us in this league and had yet to play forward, (we've played a 3-3-1 the whole league so not as many players have played forward as usual.)  LK said the first part with a lot of enthusiasm but the second part was downbeat so I asked her if she remembered the last time she said that statement.  It was at the Sockers Tournament this fall where she scored our goal in the 1-1 draw against the Sockers.  Whether she scored or not did not matter to me because I loved the confidence that she had.  With that said I put LK up top to finish the game.

We had a number of chances in the final 10 minutes but their goalie stood tall and the game finished 1-1.  For fun we decided to do a shoot out.  I enjoy doing shoot-outs every chance we can because you never know when a Region Final will be decided on penalties.  I always tell the girls how much fun shoot-outs are.  I want them in the mind set that they enjoy them and they look forward to taking the shot.

I asked the girls who wanted to take the penalties and a number of the girls said that they would like to take one.  That was good.  The South won the shoot-out 3-2 with our only miss hitting off the post.

After the game I told the girls how happy I was with how they did everything I asked in the second half.  They attacked the goal with confidence and played great.

MVP's:
AJ for making Mack laugh after the shoot-out
LP for rock solid defense
LK for playing well at forward and good play all game