State Cup Game #1 vs St Croix

I arrived at the field about two and a half hours before our game today to check in with Mark's team and be on their bench for their first game against Eagan.  They began the game really well and cruised through the first half going up 3-0.  They slept walked through the second half and allowed Eagan to have more of the ball, but not many, if any, real chances and the game finished 4-0.

The 13's showed up to watch the 12's game and I pointed out to them how it was important to play both halves strong and not allow a team back into a game in the second half.

When it was time for our game we started out quickly and Gaffer almost scored 2 minutes into the game. We had a couple of other chances before we were able to get on the board in the 7th minute.  Brownie (CD) had stepped up to intercept a clear from St Croix on the right side of the field.  Jazzy (RD) saw Brownie stepping and covered for her at center D and they switched positions as Brownie stayed out right after she played the ball to Sizzle (CM).  Sizzle returned the pass to Brownie who hit a 1st time cross towards the penalty spot in the air.  The St Croix goalie came out hard for the ball but Gaffer arrived at the ball first and flicked the ball over the goalie with her head into the goal.

It was great to see all the work on crossing and finishing paying dividends.  

We continued to press St Croix and put crosses into the box but we could not get another goal.  St Croix's goalie played well and hung onto everything she got her hands onto and St Croix's defenders cleared everything they came in contact with.  Putting those two factors along with our struggles to hit the target on all of our chances kept St Croix in the game.

17 minutes in St Croix made a rare appearance in our half after they cleared the ball long.  We had tried to play the ball out of the back but lost it around the half line on a give and go and St Croix played the ball long to the top of our box.  Our clearing attempt went to a St Croix player who was about 28 yards from goal and she struck the perfect U13 shot high into the top part of the net over AJ to tie the game.

After the goal we continued to press but could not finish anything.  I couldn't help but flash back to Nomads when we were in the same type of situation.

At half time I talked to the girls about the Manchester Utd game from that morning that saw Man U turn on the switch in the second half to destroy Tottenham 5-2 after being down 0-2 at half time.  It was an incredible turn around that saw Utd score 5 goals in 23 minutes. Soccer is a game of two halves and I stressed to the girls to be sharp with their finishing in the second half and once we scored to take the lead to make sure to score again and end the game.We came out sharp in the second half but we missed a handful of chances to go up.  We finally had our breakthrough 17 minutes into the second half when Stoker (CM) dribbled by two St Croix defenders and slotted a perfect pass to Blitz (Fwd) who left no doubt about this chance ending up in the back of the net when she fired the ball into the net from 18 yards out.

Two minutes after that Taz played the ball out of the air from a St Croix punt to Gaffer who turned just outside the top of the box and put home the 2nd goal in 2 minutes.  It was the quick finish to the game that we had talked about after we went up by one.

We continued to create chances the rest of the game and we delivered a number of great early crosses, but we were unable to score another goal.  Our team defense was good and we did not allow St Croix to get within 40 yards of our goal after they scored.  I was also really happy with our crosses today, but we will have to finish our chances better.  If we had brought our finishing boots today the score would have been a lot more lopsided.  But to St Croix's credit they battled hard and didn't give away any goals.

Tomorrow we have Coon Rapids who did not play today.  The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy.  I think the girls will be sharper in front of goal and it should be a good game.