2008 MYSA State Tournament

Game #1 vs Burnsville

Today would be a fun game against Burnsville.  Two of the girls from my last year's team play for them and it is nice to see them having a good year.  We were going to be missing AJ for both games this weekend so we would be rotating players in goal for the weekend.

Burnsville came out and put us under pressure early and they created a couple of chances.  After the beginning of the game we started to play a little better in the first half but we were unable to really put anything together against them.  About 20 minutes into the game Burnsville's very talented U12 player took a shot from outside the right side of the box down by the end line and our goalie was on the post but at the last second she thought it was going to hit the side of the net for a goal kick and she stepped back from the post and the ball went in right where she had just moved from.  A tough goal for her to give up and she felt bad about it, but I give her tons of credit for first stepping into goal today and then she bounced back on the field in the second half and did not let that goal effect her play.  It was great to see her mental toughness.

Half time came and we were down 1-0.  We talked about playing with a bit more energy and looking to combine more in the second half.  The first part of the second half was back and forth but 10 minutes in we were scored on again by their U12 player on a nice run and finish.  After that we were not able to put anything together and Burnsville played well.  The hat trick was complete for her about 10 minutes from the end and the game ended 3-0.

In the other game in our group Tonka beat TC Fire 5-0.

Game #2 vs Tonka

This was the game that I was most looking forward to in the tournament because I like how Tonka plays and we had a great game at State Cup in the beginning of the year.  We were without AJ and Taz today leaving us with only 3 subs and after the first game I was thinking that we would have to play very well in the first half because it is tough for young players to play 60-70 minutes of a fast game without tiring.  

Erika was going to step into goal today.  She has not played goalie at all for us this year but she is a good basketball player and I thought she might do well and she did.  She had to make 3-5 very good saves and she held onto everything.  After the game I talked to her about getting some extra goal keeper training so she could see if it was something that she may be interested in.

The game was fast paced and there was a lot of good soccer played, however neither team was able to score and the game finished tied 0-0.

The other game in the group had Burnsville beating TC Fire 1-0.

Game #3 vs TC Fire

Today's game was going to be our last game of the year.  It is always amazing when the year comes to an end.  Tournament play in the fall, training all winter, tournaments in the spring, and the summer season hits with lots of games and then it's over.  It just comes so quickly.

Personally I was happy to see the Fire doing well this year since I had coached with that club until this year.  My team last year had a very successful year this year and it great to see this Fire team doing well as well.  Today's game would decide the final U14 Premier League spot so even though neither team would advance to the final the game could be treated as one.  We were missing Taz and Kari today so I was hoping we'd play well in the first half again.  

I had been thinking about switching from the our 4-3-3 formation and getting more numbers back behind the ball because we would be short subs and all we needed was a tie to gain the premier spot, but after a lot of thought I decided against it.  We have played in this formation all year to work on our attacking concepts and I wanted to stay true to that philosophy so we came out to attack.

The Fire had some pretty good attacking players, especially their left forward who created some chances and the Fire hit the post 3 times during the game.  We were able to create a couple of chances ourselves but we were not able to put anything in the net.  With under 10 minutes left the Fire scored the only goal of the game.  It started with our counter attack and we miss hit a pass on a 4 on 3 just past midfield with numbers going forward to join the play.  The turn over was played quickly back to their dangerous forward into space behind us.  She broke in and took a shot that AJ saved and the ball went to one of our defenders, but she miss hit the clear and it dropped right to their other forward who put the ball into the empty net.

After the goal, the girls battled extremely hard to try and tie it up and Gaffer hit a shot that just dipped over the bar that would have tied the game up with 2 minutes left.  The game finished 1-0.

Congrats to all the teams who gained premier spots this year- West: Tonka and Wings (MTA now,) South: Burnsville, North: Maplebrook and TC Fire, East: Woodbury.  This should be a very competitive Premier League if the results of the State Tournament hold true.  Besides the first games all of the games were very close and exciting.

Wings went on to defeat Burnsville in the championship game to win the State Tournament. 

MYSA District Tournament

The day after we won the USA Cup we had the District Tournament.   We played WBL first and WBL played very hard and made it difficult for us.  Sprout scored on a PK in the first half for our only goal of the game.  We were not sharp in the attacking 1/3 offensively but we did not give up anything defensively and the game finished 1-0.

The Championship game pitted us against Eau Claire.  We had yet to beat Eau Claire going into this game losing 1-0 and 2-1 to them during the regular season.  The girls were fired up by the challenge and we came out strong.  Gaffer had a break away that was saved and we had a couple of headers go just wide or over the goal.  At the ten minute mark Gaffer hit a good left footed shot from outside the box to beat the keeper and give us the 1-0 lead.  We played pretty well in the first half, much better than in our first game of the day.

The second half was a little more tense with both teams having a couple of scoring chances but no goals went in.  When the final whistle blew the girls were excited and we had won 1-0.

U13 USA Cup Final vs Tony Glavin (MO)

It was going to be a fun game today against Tony Glavin.  They have a really dangerous forward and they are a good team that does well down in Missouri.  This was the first U13 regional team that we had played since Regionals and the awe of playing against a bigger and stronger team no longer seemed to affect the girls as they did not comment about them at all during warm ups and they just went about their business getting ready and goofing around before the game.

I talked with the girls before the game about TG's good forward and told them that we would put Kari and Bella on her side and they should keep an eye on her.  We were not going to man mark her, but we were always going to be aware of her.

The field that we were playing on was tiny.  It was going to be quite a big adjustment from playing in the Stadium yesterday on the biggest possible field to a field that must just barely meet the minimum requirements for length and width.  Despite the cramped field the girls still did a really nice job combining the ball through the midfield and 10 minutes into the game we were able to spring Jenna in on a break away but she shot the ball just wide.  We were able to create a couple of other decent chances in the first half but our shots were lacking the accuracy or power that we needed to finish.

At half time we talked about the fact that our decisions of when to clear the ball and when to posses out of the back had been very good in the first half and if we continued to do that well we were not going to give up very many chances.  All the defenders that had been on the side of the dangerous forward had done a good job of not letting her get any chances at all.  It is great to see that we don't have to man mark a dangerous player and can still play our game while keeping an eye on the other team's good players.

The second half was a battle and a lot of the play was in the midfield.  The small field was definitely playing a factor in the game as neither team could find the space to manuever amongst all the bodies in the midfield.  Ten minutes into the half Jenna had another break away and as she dribbled by the goalie she was taken out by the keeper but the ref said play on.  With 15 minutes left we were awarded a free kick 35 yards out from goal just in front of our bench.  I had seen TG's goalie warming up and she had looked very confident catching crosses and their was a slight wind blowing against us.  I told Gaffer to put the ball just outside the 6 yard box so their goalie would not be able to get to it and she should over hit it because of the wind.

Gaffer hit in a perfect ball and Sprout raced in front of their goalie and her defender and controlled the ball with one touch and hit the ball into the open net with her next touch.  A perfect set piece goal.

After the goal Tony Glavin stepped up their pressure and we switched into our 4-4-2 formation to get more numbers behind the ball.  They put us under a lot of pressure but they were not creating any chances inside our box.  With 2 minutes left there was a big collision just to the right of our box involving Taz, Bella, and one of their forwards.  There was no foul but both Bella and their forward were shaken up.  Bella was able to get up with just a bruise but their forward had to be taken off the field in a stretcher.  It was a sad situation and we hope that she is ok.

The final two minutes were played with Tony Glavin putting in long crosses from the midfield line that went straight to AJ and she would punt the ball back to the midfield line and see it come right back to her again with no pressure on her.  This happened about 4 times in a row and then the ref blew the final whistle and the girls ran out on the field to celebrate winning the championship!

It was a fun week for the girls and really cool to win the tournament an age group up.  The girls love the huge Cup that the team gets for winning the tournament and they will take turns passing it around over the next two weeks.  The girls were also excited to go and win the District Tournament tomorrow and make it two Championships in two days.  Lots of fun:)

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

U13 USA Cup vs NWU Milan (Canada)

Today's game was going to be on TV and the girls were excited about it.  One of the neat things that happens at USA Cup is when you are playing on A1, U2 or U1 you get to have your game broadcast either via the internet or the local TV Stations.  I had never actually watched one of these broadcasts but I saw the DVD of our game and it was really high quality and the announcers were very good.

We played well today and our combination play is continuing to improve.  Despite numerous chances we were unable to score until the 45th minute when we had a free kick just inside our half.  Gaffer took the kick quickly and played the ball down the right hand side for Jenna.   As Jenna raced into the box she cut inside of her defender and drew the second defender towards her.  As the second defender stepped, Jenna slid the ball diagonally backwards to Blitz who one touched the ball into the back of the net.  A very nice goal.

The game ended 1-0 in our favor and we won our group with a record of 2-0-1.  This meant that we would get to play the semi final in the Stadium tomorrow night.

S- AJ    E- Hannah    A- Blitz    S- Gaffer