4/11 Scrimmage vs U15 White

After much work to secure a field we we able to play the 15 Whites this afternoon on the Park High Turf.  This is a huge field so I figured that the 15's would have a huge advantage with their size, speed, and ability to swing the ball from one side of the field to the other.  Going into the game I did not think we would do as well as we had done on Monday against them due to the factors I just mentioned, plus I figured the 15's would have a little extra motivation after the game on Monday.  

We were without Jazzy and Carly today, but had Millie with us.

I was on the field coaching so I don't have any notes from this game so I'm just going to give my abbreviated thoughts about the game.

The 15's controlled the game with their passing and we we struggled to complete passes against them and maintain possession.  However, we had the most dangerous chances of the game through our counter attack.

Gaffer and Jody had break aways in the first half that the 15's goalie made great saves on.  Blitz almost had another break away save for another brave play from their goalie sliding out to the ball right before she arrived, she would have scored.  Kenzie also had a break away from the top of the 18 but her run let her down and her first touch went too far outside.  This was a great teaching moment to show her that if she had started her run just a little wider she would have made her first touch a lot easier because she would have been attacking the goal instead of running straight and trying to receive the ball across her body.

The 15's had 2 free kicks in the first half from dangerous positions but failed to capitalize on the shots.  Besides that, they had a handful of outside shots and crosses but AJ was never really troubled.  

A great thing about this group is that once the ball gets around our 18 yard box we really tighten up and give up very few chances.  This resiliency, and solid goal keeping, allows us to compete against older teams who have the run of play.

The times that we we did have possession of the ball in their half we continued to work on our defenders not allowing their forwards to turn when they received the ball.  It was a huge theme for them today and it continued to improve through the game.

At half time we discussed the importance of our defenders not allowing their forwards to turn and the fact that we needed to keep the ball when we won possession.

We had the wind the second half and the opening 10 minutes of the half we had the control of the game from a possession stand point.  The pressure led to a corner 10 minutes in.  Blitz played in the corner to the top of the 6 on the far side of the goal.  The ball was knocked down and we took a shot that their goalie made another incredible save on the goal line.  The ball squirted out to the top of the 6 where Blitz had charged into and she powered the ball into the back of the net.

After the goal the 15's really took control of the game as our midfield really struggled to win the ball and keep possession when we did win it.  The 15's continued to hit long shots that AJ dealt with but when they began to get to the end line and became more dangerous.  20 minutes in they were able to play the ball to the end line, beat our defender and deliver a cross inside the 6 for a one time finish.

Instead of letting down after getting scored on, the girls were upset with each other for letting it happen.  Then AJ made a joke, we all laughed and began to go about trying to regain the lead.  

The 15's still had a majority of the control in our half, but we were dangerous on the counter and we had another 3 counter attacks that produced really good chances but we just missed on the final pass or our final touch.

The game ended tied 1-1 so we went to a shoot-out.

Sizzle stepped up and made our first shot and they missed over the bar 1-0
Becks made the second and they scored 2-1
Gaffer hit the outside of the post and they scored to tie it 2-2
Bella scored our 4th shot and they matched it 3-3
LK was money on the 5th shot and again they matched it 4-4
Extra Shooters!
Kenzie placed her shot into the corner and so did they 5-5
Jordy hit hers into the upper corner and they scored again 6-6
Lydia hit hers off the inside of the post to score our 7th goal

I was down by the pk spot blowing the whistle for each kick and as their 8th shooter was walking up to shoot I told Kari that she would be our next shooter.  AJ informed me that she wouldn't need to shoot because she was going to save this shot.  I love her confidence.  Their shooter just missed wide and AJ said "I told you that Kari wouldn't need to shoot!"

Final thoughts
The 15's might be the best group for us to play.  (Along with our 14's) They make us work really hard defensively and put us under immense pressure when we have the ball so we struggle to keep possession.  They are more athletic than us in tight spaces so we have to think ahead.  

They controlled the entire game, but we did not give up many dangerous chances.  

The game was pretty physical and neither team backed down from a challenge.

Our counter attack was super effective and we created 6 high quality scoring chances from it.  We do a really good job of committing numbers forward when we get the chance.

We scored on another corner.  It is a good trend to see.

We love shootouts.  

Delivering The Early Cross: Training 4/11

With the scrimmage coming up this afternoon we spent almost the entire training working on our crossing and finishing.  

I. 7v7 Scrimmage to Warm Up

II. Early Cross and Volley Work
We spent almost 45 minutes on our technique.  We divided the girls up into 3 groups 

• One group worked on bending in early crosses.  We used the corner flags as defenders to curve the ball around. 
• One group finished off the crosses
• Another group was with Evan working on volley technique

III. Transition Game
As we continue to expand on our game it is important that we continue to work on our greatest strength, the counter/transition game over large space.  I figure that we will have to use our transitions and counters in the game this afternoon if we are going to be able to score any goals.

IV. 8v8 Scrimmage With The White Team
We mixed up the Blue and White teams to finish off the training with a scrimmage. 

4/6 Crossing and Finishing and Scrimmage vs U15 White

Today something happened that hasn't happened since October.  We had everyone at training!  It was a momentous occasion.  As soon as I saw that everyone was at the field, I felt a huge energy boost and I was excited to get going.

Everyone had arrived at training 15-20 minutes early so I told the girls of their new challenge for the next 3 weeks.  Back in the fall we challenged the girls to be able to juggle the ball 50 times in a row with just their feet.  The new challenge from now up until our first game of State Cup will be to juggle the ball 30 times in a row with their opposite foot.

I went back and forth on the number knowing that 30 would be too easy for some of the girls and I almost set it at 50.  But for some of the girls they still really struggle juggling for their weaker foot and I want to be able to say that everyone on the team can get to a certain level.  For the girls who 30 was too easy I challenged them to see who could be the first person to get to 100, 250, and 500.

About half the girls achieved the 30 juggle mark and LK is the current high juggler with 98.

I. Technical Work: Crossing and Finishing

I divided the girls into 3 groups of 6 and sent each group to a goal.  1/2 the girls were crossers and 1/2 were finishers.  The crossers took one touch and worked on driving the ball to the pk spot or far post.  The finishers worked on timing their runs and finishing through a header or volley.

We started on the right side and switched to the left and worked on attacking the end line to cross the ball and attacking the end line but cutting the ball back early and delivering a cross in the air.  For the cut back we worked on the runners into the box adjusting their runs by backing up when the crosser cuts the ball back.  We call it "pulling off the defender."

II. 2v1 Wide Play to 2v1 Finishing

I have been wanting to do this exercise for a couple of weeks now but we never had the right numbers to make it work.  We ended up spending more time than I had planned on the crossing and finishing so we only had about 10 minutes for this.  Not enough time to really get into the drill, but I wanted to intro it for the girls so we will be able to really get into it at our next 1/2 field training.

Set Up

• 2 Blue crossers begin staggered in the wide channel
• 2 Blue finishers begin near the center circle with a ball
• 2 Red defenders begin at the disk 10 yards away
• Same set up on opposite side of the field

 Procedure

• Blue finisher plays the ball out to the Blue attacker who is in the advanced position
• 1 Red defender goes out to the wide channel where the 2 Blue crossers go 2v1 against her 
• 1 Red defender stays in the middle to defend the 2 Blue finishers who begin to make their runs wide into the box

• The crossers go 2v1 until they are able to play the ball into the 2 finishers
• As soon as the cross is played in the other side begins

There are lots of different ways to approach the 2v1: Give and Go, Overlap, Dribble, Lay It Back For An Early Cross

We talked about the visual cue that if the defender is sitting back from the ball carrier she can play an early cross in behind the defender in the middle

We only introduced this today, but we will be working a lot on the different ways to get the ball into the box and the runs the finishers can make.  I hope to build it so we will have a recovery defender out wide to put more pressure on the crossers and I want to build towards having 2 or 3 defenders in the middle that the finishers have to beat to the ball.

III. Scrimmage vs U15 White

Earlier in the day Singer had called me asking if the 13's would be interested in scrimmaging the 15's for the last 1/2 of training.  I was all for it so Singer called Yong and asked if we could do it and he said that because he would have a lot of players tonight he wanted to make sure that we played for at least 45 minutes so he could get all the girls enough playing time.  Fine by me.  

I asked him again if he thought it would be beneficial for his girls.  They are so much bigger, faster, and stronger than us, plus it is difficult for them to get excited to play a team that is 2 years younger than them at this age.  (15-13 is a lot different than 18-16) Yong said it would be good for them to get in some game experience before they begin MRL play so we were all set.

We were awesome in the scrimmage.  We continued where we left off from last weekend.  We moved the ball around really well.  We were dangerous in the attack.  A couple minutes in we sent a header on a corner kick just over the bar.  We are becoming very dangerous on corners.  

We played super well defensively and did a great job of forcing them one way and denying them switching the field, which is what they are very good at.  Our central defenders, Brownie and Lydia, did not let their forwards turn and attack us.  Brownie had one spectacular tackle when she was caught 1v1 with one of their players as the last defender.  She did a great job of jockeying and when the moment was right she got stuck in, won the ball, and sent the attacker flying.

The 15's scored off a corner when AJ hit the ball out into the danger area when she was caught deciding between catching the ball and punching it.  We blocked the first shot, but the second shot flew past us into the empty net.

The girls responded well and continued to play good defense and attack.  With 5 minutes left in the scrimmage we had the ball out on the right wing.  We played the ball to Kenzie (RM) who flicked it onto Blitz (fwd) who headed it onto Gaffer (fwd) who was running into space!  Gaffer accelerated and finished off the break away with a nice toe poke over the goalie.

I was super happy with how the girls played in the scrimmage today.  I don't know if we will be able to play the 15's this close again this year as I'm sure they will be motivated the next time we play them.  After the training Yong and I began to set up a scrimmage between the 2 teams for this Saturday so it will be another really good test for us.