U13 USA Cup Semi Final vs Maplebrook

Tonight was a rematch of our game a couple of days ago that produced a dull 0-0 draw.  Tonight was going to be quite a different game though because both teams were extremely excited to get a chance to play in the Thunder's stadium.  The large field was also going to play a huge factor in the game.  The Thunder's Stadium field is the maximum width and length for a soccer field.  With the girls only being 12 and 13 years old this meant that there was going to be tons of space on the field.  I told the girls that this would help us a ton since there would always be someone open because you cannot possibly cover all the space on the field.  Our passing and combination play would really be able to shine today.

One minute into the game Maplebrook put a ball into our box that we half cleared and the ball went to one of their players and she roofed the ball off the bottom of the cross bar and in for the opening goal.  Great shot.  This was not the start that we were hoping for.

After 7 minutes we finally settled down and began to move the ball.  At the start of the game we were trying to force everything forward and we were too anxious to move at 100 mph with the ball when we had it.  Once we settled down and started to find our outside defenders and move the ball across the midfield we began to play very well.  In the 14th minute Gaffer played Jenna in on a through pass and as she was cutting to the net she was taken down by a Maplebrook defender and we were awarded a penalty kick.  Blitz stepped up to take the kick and just as she was shooting the ref blew his whistle.  The shot went in right over the goalies head but the ref had blown the play dead to tell his linesman to get into position to take the penalty.  This meant that Blitz had to re-take the kick.  She looked nervous and I yelled out to her to relax and place it into a corner this time.  On her second attempt she placed the ball low and hard into the left corner to tie the game.  

Eight minutes after that goal we scored our second goal when Jordy stripped a Maplebrook defender of the ball in the corner and dribbled in at goal.  As she dribbled closer to the goal, the girl that was marking Sprout left her to go to Jordy.  As this happened Jordy slipped the ball to Sprout.  As another defender came to close Sprout down she hit a quick toe poke just inside the near post.  It was great to see her toe poke the ball in because we always talk about how effective the toe poke is when you are close to goal. 

We continued to play well the rest of the half but with less than a minute left we half cleared another ball and once again Maplebrook made us pay by hammering in another shot to the upper corner.  It was a bad goal to give up just before half time and our clearing the ball would be an issue that we needed to address at half time.

At half time we addressed the poor clears.  The issue was that the girls hear me say that I want them to find passes and we play better when our defenders can possess the ball out of the back instead of just booting it down the field.  What we addressed was recognizing the difference between when we should possess and when we need to clear the ball as hard as we can.  The time to clear the ball comes when they have numbers up in our box and there is lots of chaos.  When this happens we need to come through the ball with confidence and power.  The time to pass the ball is when they do not have numbers up in our area and we have our players back in good supporting positions.  

The second half started and we continued our good passing and 12 minutes from the end of the game we scored a spectacular goal.  Sprout (LF) received the ball in the center circle from the right side of the field.  When she received the ball she began to dribble at a slight angle to the left between Maplebrook's center defender and outside defender.  As she was doing this Jenna (CF) worked hard to cut across the defenders making a 30 yard run starting on the right side of the field.  As Sprout dribbled and drew the defenders in LP (LD) overlapped Sprout and as the center defender stepped to Sprout she played the ball to LP.  LP one touched the ball through to Jenna into the space that the center defender had just left and went in on a break away.  Just as Jenna arrived at the penalty spot she toe poked the ball in stride to the right corner so quickly that the goalie never moved.  It was a fantastic goal to watch and probably on par with the goal we scored against St Croix for the goal of the year.

The game ended 3-2 in our favor and we advanced to the final to play Tony Glavin from Missouri in the final.

S- Bella    E- Jenna    A- LP    S- Carly