NSC Cup Bangu Rev Day 1

After winning State Cup on Wednesday our priorities shifted a little bit and getting healthy before Regionals became priority #1.  Going into the weekend we had a number of girls who were banged up and 3 players were not going to be able to play at all leaving us with 12 players for the tournament, 9 healthy players.  With this in mind I contemplated pulling out of the tournament all together. 

But then I talked with Nels Dokken, the DOC at Dakota Rev and coach of their U12 team, about some of his players playing with us since they were not doing anything and he was able to provide us with 5 players for the tournament. 

We had been wanting to do a joint tournament with this Dakota Rev team ever since meeting them in the Final of the USA Cup Weekend Tournament last year.  They are a very talented and well coached team and this was going to be a perfect opportunity for us to work together.

I was excited about us being able to play together but going into the weekend my only real goal for the tournament was to escape without any more injuries.

Game #1 vs Bangu U12 South
When the schedules came out it was a bit upsetting that they would schedule us to play another team from our own club when there were lots of other options available.  We don't want to pay money to play one of our own teams that we can scrimmage for free in our cross over group play game.  But the one reason that I was looking forward to playing our South group was that I knew that they would come out and play soccer and we would not have to worry about a big physical battle that may cause injuries.

The game opened up with all the girls learning how to play with each other and for the Rev girls learning our formation and system.  The South girls put together some good passes and it was a decent back and forth game.

In the 30th minute Sprout played the ball end line for Carly who played the ball diagonally back to the far post where Jenna, from Rev, put home the cross for the first goal of the game.  It was good to see the girls working well together.

When the half time whistle blew some of our girls said that the ball may have been out before the cross went to Jenna.  I asked them if they were upset about it and wanted me to tell the ref because in our State Cup Final game some of the girls had thought the 13's ball had gone out before their cross and goal.  When they said no we talked about the fact that bad calls are a part of the game and you can't only complain when things go against you.  If you are going to accept things in favor of you then you need to be able to accept it when things do not go your way. 

In the second half we had a couple of times where the girls started to play pretty well together.  In the 43rd minute Blitz was fouled on the right edge of the box in a similar position to her free kick against Mahtomedi last week.  She put in another hard free kick into the confusion and the ball hit off of one of the South players and into the net.

The game finished 2-0.

MVP's
Mack for her hard work at forward
Blitz for her skill
Paige, from Rev, for her runs at forward with the ball

Game #2 vs Burnsville
This was going to be a tough game as Burnsville is one of the top teams in the U13 age group and they have one very talented forward who is a U12 that creates many chances for them. 

The wind was blowing for this game and we were playing right next to one of those lovely little streams out at the NSC that does not have a fence by it so I think we spent about 15 minutes of our game digging balls out of the stream.  Why don't they put up little fences to help stop some of the balls from going in?  It doesn't have to be very high.  Just something to prevent the balls that are rolling from going in.

Anyways, Burnsville had the wind in the first half and they played well and put us under pressure.  At times we put together a couple of passes but we were still learning how to play with each other and it showed but we escaped to half time with the scored tied 0-0.

In the second half we played better because we had the wind but things never really clicked for us this game.  In the 50th minute Burnsville put a cross into the box that bounced and our right defender headed the ball down and into the middle instead of high and away.  Their danger player was right their accept the gift and she put home the only goal of the game.

MVP's
Bri, from Rev, for good play in the center of defense
Kaitlyn, from Rev, for her hustle
Gaffer, for her footwork and tackles

Two games down and no injuries.  It was a good day:)