Game #3 vs VSA Visions

From the opening kick off of the game we looked good.  Really good.  VSA was not able to put as much pressure on us as Lake and KC did so the girls had a little more time on the ball and their confidence was high.  Our outside backs Carly, LP, Erika, and Lydia all did a great job of overlapping our mids and they were all getting into great scoring positions.  I was really excited to see them coming forward and it will be important for all of our outside backs to get involved in our offense through the year.

13 minutes into the game Sprout played Millie in on a break away and she converted for us to take the 1-0 lead.  A little reversal from the final goal yesterday.  We continued to put VSA under pressure.  Ricky played in 3 great corners that their goalie made some very good saves on in the middle of the giant scrum that our girls create.  I want our corners to be played inside the six yard box right in the middle of the goal and she was hitting the spot perfectly.

We must have had 15 shots in the first half that were all in quality scoring positions but we couldn't finish.  VSA's goalie was big and it seemed like we thought we had to put a perfect shot on her to score or absolutely crush the ball to get it by her.  This resulted in us missing the net and shooting right at the goalie on a majority of shots.  The shots that we didn't do those two things, their goalie made some great saves to keep her team in the game...  At least as far as the scoreboard was concerned.  I don't think they came into our half under control more than twice.

We continued the dominance in the second half.  Hannah who had been playing in the center of our defense for a majority of the time during the first two games had stepped up into the defensive mid spot and she was doing some great give and go's and LK was using some good footwork and vision to switch the fields all game.  Despite our dominance VSA's goalie was holding strong.

It took us until 7 minutes from time to put in our second goal when Ricky hit a long diagonal ball to put Millie in on another break away which she converted.  For this goal the reffing was in our favor as it seemed that Millie was a good couple of yards off sides.  But to her credit she took advantage of the non call and dribbled by the goalie.

We pushed for a third goal and had a couple of more close chances but we couldn't finish anything else and the game ended 2-0.

* * * *
I was trying a new thing this weekend when it came to the scoreboard watching.  I told the parents not to tell the kids what kind of results they needed to get to give them the best chance of advancing. 

I had made the mistake in the past of telling my teams that we need to get so and so result or win by this many goals to give ourselves the best chance to advance.  I found that when I did this, it did not matter if we played well or if we played poorly, how we felt about the game purely came down to the scoreboard.  So for this tournament I was determined not to let this happen.

I knew going into the game that we needed to win 3-0 to give ourselves the best chance of making it to the final.  We ended up winning 2-0 so we were eliminated from the final but we were still alive to play in the third place game.  Looking back at the game I don't think I'd change anything about the way we played.  We had tons of chances and they didn't have any.  We just didn't finish one more of our chances. 

When I told the girls that we were out of the final they were not that upset because they knew that they had just played a very good game and they had had fun during the game.  I am pretty sure that if I had told the girls they needed to win 3-0 before the game and they played the way they did and came up short one goal the attitude within our team could have been negative.  This was a good lesson for me to learn and I know that we are in a good place heading into our final game.

As I went over to watch the Lake Forest vs KC Legends game I replayed the game in my head and I felt good about what we had done.  We had played very well and the girls recognized that.  KC scored near the end of the first half and took a 1-0 lead into half time.  Since they had been going with the wind and Lake was still dangerous in the first half I thought that Lake could easily put in a couple of goals in the second half and win. 

Shortly into the second half Lake tied it up.  The rest of the half was spent with Lake on the attack but KC holding strong.  The game meant a lot to both teams.  Whoever won the game would advance to the final.  With our place in the group still up in the air it made the game interesting. 

The game ended 1-1.  KC is a resilient team that knows how to grind out results. They will be going to the final to defend their title from last year.

Team	Wins	Losses	Draws	Points	GF	GA
KC Legends	2	0	1	7	7	3
Bangu	2	1	0	6	7	5
Lake Forest	1	1	1	4	6	4
VSA	0	3	0	0	0	8

It turns out that the goal differential would not have mattered at all because of the tie.  Now I am very happy we didn't put the emphasis on the score of our last game.  Since we finished second we will play Eclipse in the third place game.  I am excited because I know they are a good team and the girls are excited because three of the girls from Eclipse played with us last fall so they know the team.