MYSA League Game #3 vs Woodbury

Another fun game for tonight against Woodbury.  Woodbury is one of the better U13 teams in the State and they move the ball well, so this will be a good session for us to prep for Regionals.

Before the game I introduced the girls to the Skillzys Game Cards that we were going to be starting with the game tonight.  The girls already have their juggling Skillzys so now we are adding to them.  Each Skillzy that the girls receive goes onto their Ringzy that is attached to their bag.

The idea behind the Skillzys cards is to get the players on the field to expand their game through the extrinsic motivation of giving them a Skillzy Card each time they perform one of the designated skills for the day.  We have really seen this work well with our current U11 Blue team and the skills are now making regular appearances in their games even when we are not giving out cards.

The two cards we were going to give out today were the Give & Go Skillzy and the Split Pass Skillzy. In order to receive a Skillzy the players on the field must perform the skill perfectly and somebody on the bench must call out that they saw the skill happen.  Then the coach has to approve that it was done to perfection. 

The coach then records who did the skill and the person who called it out.  After the game everyone who was involved with the skill gets the card to put on their Ringzy.

After the explanations the game started and the girls played really well in the first half.  We were moving the ball and we were able to get two Give & Go Skillzy's.  With this team I am really picky so they have to complete the give and go with perfection and despite a couple of other decent ones only twice did we award the cards.

I was really hard on the Split cards and we did not give out any today.

Despite our good play we were unable to create any goals from all our chances and looking back we did not take any shots from outside the box and we were waiting for the perfect goal instead of testing their goalie and it really hurt us in the scoring department.

We gave up one really good break to Woodbury where our center defender was going to clear the ball and she was the last person back.  Our other central defender was running back and so was our closest outside defender, but once they saw that our center defender was going to clear the ball they started jogging.  Woodbury had a forward putting pressure on the clear from a couple of yards away and we hit her with the ball and she went in on a break away and AJ made a huge kick save to keep the score tied at 0-0.

It was a good lesson for us to remember to always back up the ball.  Even though the chances of us hitting that forward with the ball again are very slim we always want to take care of it when it does. 

The same situation happened a couple minutes later and our defenders did a great job of backing up the girl clearing the ball, so that was good.

At half time we talked about how well we were moving the ball and the need to keep it up.  We also talked about our outside players shifting quicker.  Besides that the ref gave us a three minute lecture about one of our girls having a hair binder on her wrist and about why she shouldn't have it there.  All he needed to say was please take it off and it would have been taken care of but I guess he wanted to make the half time speech for me.

In retrospect I am upset that I did not realize, at half time, that we had not taken more than one or two shots from outside the box and emphasized the need to take more shots from distance.

The second half started and Woodbury was all over us.  We couldn't do anything right and they were in our end for the entire first ten minutes and could have had a goal.  Our big issue was the huge gap in the midfield and it is something we are working on addressing.

We eventually started to come back into the game and the game became a back and forth affair for the rest of the game.

At the 57 minute mark Blitz (AM) dribbled the ball towards the top of the box and as the defenders closed her down 40 yards out from goal she played Jordy (RF) who had pulled wide.  (Just what we had worked on the two weeks prior to this game:) Jordy got around the outside of her defender and as she dribbled in at the goal we had both Erika (LF) and Mack (CF) crashing in on the goal.  Jordy slotted the ball to Mack and she put the ball back where it came from and we had a 1-0 lead.

For the next 5 minutes we put them under a ton of pressure but we were unable to get another goal.  With 5 minutes left Woodbury won a corner.  As the corner came in we cleared it to the top right side of the box and we dribbled by the first defender there but lost it to the second defender who poked the ball back into the top of the box where we had two girls there to clear the ball.  But instead of clearing it we tried to dribble again, lost it in the swarm of players there and the the ball fell to a Woodbury player who cracked a very good shot past AJ to tie the game.

We would talk the next day at training about game management and that it was fine for the first girl to try and dribble out but when she lost it into the crowd of players we should hit the ball outside and try to regroup since we had the 1 goal lead late in the game. 

The game ended 1-1.  A good game from both teams.

Give & Go Skillzy's
Gaffer and Hannah, Erika called it
Sprout and Jordie, Mack called it

Controlling The Sea Cards
S: AJ
E: Gaffer
A: Mack

6/2 Training

Sorry, I did not write up this session.  So here is the abbreviated version.  We did ball work for about 30 minutes today and then we played 7v7 with various restrictions.

5/28 Optional Training-SPAT and Shooting

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
-Sidney J Harris

With all of the injuries that we have had over the last couple of weeks I made this training optional.  I told the girls if they are injured take the day off.  If they need the day off from soccer to do something else, go ahead and do it.

* * *
Tangent Thought
I always find it funny this time of year when the NFL is hosting all their optional work outs and if some of the players don't show up for these optional work outs the media and teams make a big deal out of it.  They say the player is not committed to the team and he should be with his team.  No he shouldn't.  If he needs time away from the team let him have it.  If you want everyone there don't make it optional.  Just say what you want and people will go with it.

Upon hearing about another one of the NFL players not going to an optional mini camp on my way to training today I was hoping that some of the girls would take the day off.  I love it when they show up but I know each of the girls are different and for some of them taking a day off occasionally helps them to become a better player because they need the break.

End tangent thought.
* * *

We had 10 girls at training today.  It seemed like the right number for us.

We started off with our SPAT training and we really went over in depth the proper mechanics of how to turn.  It was great and the girls were so in tune that Brad went for about 45 minutes with the topic.

We spent the rest of the training on shooting.  Mainly 1 touch shots from distance but a couple of others were mixed in.  We finished it up with some competitions and we eventually had to call the training on account of darkness with the girls still wanting to stay out there and shoot even though training was supposed to have finished long ago.

NSC Cup Bangu Rev Semi Final vs Bangu U13

Today we were happy we were going to be able to play the U13's again because they are a very good team and playing them makes us better.  Of course we would have liked to be playing them in the Finals later today but we will play them any chance we get.  They are the type of team with how they move the ball that we need to play against to get better at the Regional level. 

We started out the game in the first 10 minutes playing really well.  We were moving the ball well and looking sharp.
* * * Again, for this age group playing against a high level opponent, moving the ball well to me means that we are combining 3-5 passes and getting into dangerous positions. 

About 12 minutes in Blitz got into the box and as she was shooting she was hit off balance and the ref gave us a PK.  I couldn't believe our luck to be awarded another PK against them.  Just like the State Cup Final Sprout immediately grabbed the ball and set up to take the shot.  Everyone saw her confidence so the girls let her take the penalty.

I loved the confidence because in the shoot out at State the 13's goalie had made a great save on her and blocked her shot.  Sprout saw that miss as an aberration and her belief was great as she stepped up and put the ball into the side netting where she had shot in the Tonka shoot out.

After our goal the 13's started to apply more pressure on us and a couple of minutes after our goal Cutter made a couple of nice moves in the box for the 13's and put home a low finish to tie the score. 

With no time left in the first half the 13's had a free kick just inside our half and their coach, Ben, yelled out to Cutter to get on the end of the cross and she did just that as the ball was served perfectly into our danger area and she took a touch and roofed the ball for the 13's to take the lead.

At half time we talked about how well we had played in the first part of the game and we needed to continue to try and combine like that all game.  We also talked about being able to stay confident during the times when the 13's were putting us under pressure.

The second half started and we played really well again in the first 10 minutes.  Then the 13's took control for the next 10 and the last 10 was a back and forth battle that saw both teams getting chances but no one was able to finish.

It was a fun game to watch and even though we lost it was a nice game to end the tournament on. 

The 13's went on to win the tournament and we survived the weekend with no injuries and now we have a much needed week of rest.

Combining with the Rev girls was fun for both groups and hopefully we can join the groups again whether it is under Bangu or Rev as I think both groups benefit from playing together.

MVP's
Sprout for her PK and moves with the ball
LP for her energy
Hannah for her footskills

NSC Cup Bangu Rev Day 2

Game #3 vs Dakota Gold
Our first game today was against Dakota Gold.  This is a team that we might see at Regionals so I was very interested to see them this weekend.

We were going against the wind in the first half but we were moving the ball better today as the girls were becoming used to playing with each other.  There were some times when we played very good.

The only real issue with the first half was the reffing.  They had assigned a very young girl to be our center and it was obvious that she was in over her head.  The game was not that difficult but every time, I mean every single time, she blew the whistle she pointed that it was Dakota Gold's free kick.  This happened a couple of times when we had the ball, got fouled, nothing bad but a foul, the Dakota Gold girls would set up for the free kick against them as we were setting up to take the kick and she would point the other way. 

At half time Nels talked with the girls and I went and talked to the ref saying that I would talk to our parents about not saying anything when she blew the whistle and I let her know that she had pointed the wrong way on a couple of calls.  No big deal, just try to call it even.  I then went over and talked to our parents about just letting all the calls go.  No reason to get upset.  We know things are not going our way but yelling about it will only make you not enjoy the game as much.

We had the wind in the second half and continued to play some really good soccer.  10 minutes in we won a corner and Ricky put in a great ball just in front of the goal that Gaffer challenged their keeper for and the ball ended up in the back of the net.  It is exactly the type of corner that we want to create confusion in front of the other teams' goal.

We had some more chances during the game but were unable to convert anything.  The 1-0 win meant that we would advance out of our group and we would play Rochester in the afternoon.

MVP's
Ricky for her play at Center Defense and good free kicks
AJ for her play in goal
Kaity, Dakota Rev, for her play at defense

Quarter Final vs Rochester
I have never seen this Rochester team but they are coached by a guy who played club ball with Mark and from what I heard they were going to be pretty decent.  It turned out that they had a couple of very nice players including #9 who was a danger player in the midfield for them.  If we won this game we would get to play the U13's again tomorrow in the Semi Final which would be the kind of game we need to prep for Regionals.

We finally had no wind for the first time all spring and we started off the game playing our best soccer of the weekend.  We were really moving the ball well and it was fun to watch.  As we continued to play well though, we started to relax a little too much when the ball was around our box and it caught up to us 15 minutes in when a ball was bouncing around at the top of our box and we did not go to the ball with any real urgency.  When we got there we took a lazy touch that went right to a Rochester girl who hammered the ball into the side netting.  A great shot by her.  A good reminder for us that we need to keep moving quickly when the ball is around our box.

Despite a number of decent chances we didn't get on the board until Jordy dribbled through 4 players, went in on a break away and had a large portion of the net to shoot at.  But instead of placing the ball she went for power and luckily for us she connected on the shot and it went right through the goalies legs and into the net. 

Not a whole lot to say at half time.  The girls were playing well.  The only point we made was to keep the ball moving quickly when it is around our box.  It was a silly goal for us to give away since we were in possession of the ball.

The second half saw more good attacking play from us and we were really starting to find our outside defenders.  10 minutes into the half we had the ball down in the corner and played the ball to Bella who was just inside the top of the box.  As she received the ball she faked a shot with her right foot, beating her defender, and then placed the ball low into the near post with her left foot for the game winning goal.

It was a fun game this afternoon and we all were looking forward to seeing the U13's again tomorrow morning in the semi final.

Two days down, no injuries and we played some pretty good soccer today.  Great weekend so far:)

MVP's
Bella for her hard work and goal
Jordy for her goal and dribbling
LK for her play at Center Defense