State Cup Game #3 vs Blackhawks

Today was an exciting day for the girls as they tried to become the first team from our club to advance out of pool play while playing up a year since the Stars won State Cup as U12's back in 2003.  Mark Abboud would help guide the Woodbury Inferno to the Semi Finals the following year where they lost on PK's to Wings.

Going into the game I was a bit nervous about how many girls we would actually have that could play.  We would be without our goalie AJ who was injured in a hockey game last weekend.  Hannah was injured at ODP tryouts last Sunday and could barely move at training on Wednesday.  And Mad Dog had been sick for the last couple of days and we were not sure how much she was going to be able to play. 
(Both Hannah and Mad Dog would end up being able to play)

After I found out about AJ's injury on Sunday I told Mack and Gaffer that they were my two potential goalies for the game.  I told Mack that I planned on starting her and hopefully we would keep her in net for the entire game, but I wanted Gaffer to know that she was going to be the back up choice tonight so she would be ready in case anything happened. 

I didn't know too much about this Blackhawks team but they had tied PSA, so that was a good result, and they have a very good coach in Ted Kroeten.

With Hannah starting on the bench I moved Taz into the center of defense with Bella and I pulled Ricky back from forward to become one of our outside defenders.  One of the advantages of playing kids in multiple positions over the last year is that the girls are all familiar with multiple positions and we can ask them to play anywhere and they are comfortable.  Ricky went on to play her best game of the year to this point in a position that she had not played since last fall.

A minute into the game a girl on the Blackhawks was in front of our bench about 40 yards from goal and she decided to have a go and she laced a rocket of a shot that Mack was able to catch.  If the shot had come from 10-15 yards closer we would have been in real trouble as the ball was very well struck.  Since it was from so far out it was a great way to give Mack confidence in goal with a relatively easy shot.

After that shot we started to play pretty well.  Our forwards were getting endline and we had the opportunity for a number of dangerous crosses only to see our far forward start too close to the near post and see the cross go just over her head to the far post.  We had a number of shots but we were not connecting on them and the Blackhawks goalie made a number of easy saves on numerous good chances that we had.  Both of these things we would address at half time.

All week I had been telling Mad Dog that she was going to score in today's game.  Despite her being sick I watched her in warm ups and she looked ready to go.  When I put her out there she was a difference maker and was beating girls 1v1 and causing all sorts of problems.

In the 33rd minute Mad Dog received the ball 10 yards into our attacking half on the left side of the field.  She then proceeded to torch two defenders on her way to the top of the box.  As the last defender stepped up to her, she side stepped her third player in a row and unleashed a cannon of a shot that flew into the upper right corner of the net.  A very special goal.

Having the lead going into half time was great.  We talked about the need for our far forward to start outside the far post before crosses were played into the box so we would keep the ball in front of us with our momentum going at goal and we also talked about all the work we had done through the winter on ball striking.  We needed to concentrate on locking our ankle as we shot and get some power on our shots.

We had the kick to start the second half and we played the ball right to the Blackhawks forward and we were stuck in our half for the first five minutes.  Kick offs are a very small thing in the game and very few goals are scored from them.  But where the kick off ends up can dictate where the first five minutes are played in youth soccer.  A small mental error on our part but it could have been dangerous if the Blackhawks would have been able to capitalize on their possession.

After that we really started clicking.  All the work we have been doing on transition play was paying off as we would work hard to win the ball in the Blackhawks end and make a quick pass or two and get a cross or a shot off.  Sprout was doing a great job of getting endline on a number of these plays.  We had a couple of crosses find our far forwards feet and heads and we made good contact on the ball but the shots went just a little bit too high.

15 minutes into the half we won the ball on the left side of the field about 35 yards from goal.  Sprout (LF) played Blitz (CF) the ball and she tried to bulldoze her way through two defenders at the top of the box.  As the defenders tackled her the ball popped back to Jordy (AM) two yards outside the box and she hit across the ball with her right foot sending the ball flying left to right about 3 feet off the ground just inside the far post.  An incredible strike.

10 minutes from time Blitz received the ball on the right hand side about 30 yards out from goal and beat two defenders and cracked a left footed shot into the far corner.  Another great strike with accuracy and power.

The only real chance Blackhawks had in the second half was when we misplayed a goal kick to one of their forwards who took a quick shot that went right back at Mack.  A small mental break down on our part for not marking up properly on a goal kick but something that we want to eliminate.

The game ended 3-0 and the girls celebrated their first place finish in the group.  We will move on to play Tonka in the semi finals.  The other semi final involves our U13 team against Wings.

Final Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pts	GF	GA
Bangu	2	0	1	7	5	0
PSA	1	0	2	5	2	1
MPB	1	2	0	3	1	3
BHK	0	2	1	1	1	5

MVP's
Ricky for her hard tackles and calm on the ball at defense
Mad Dog for her goal in the first half and hard work
Mack for stepping into goal for the game and keeping a clean sheet