NSC Fall Cup Day #2 - Sunday, Oct 14

Colder than yesterday for sure as the cloud cover wasn't allowing the sun to shine, and more than a hint of rain in the air.  I hate being cold AND wet. 

I arrived to NSC early to pass by and say hi to the U12s and U13s, then go catch the first part of the 9AM U14 White team against Dakota Rev.

Around 9:20AM I started to make my way over to the 8v8 fields to watch part of the Silver Flight match up between VSA Green and STMA United.  This was VSA's crossover match up.  They had beaten the other team in our 3-team group 4-0 yesterday, and since our White team had won 4-1, the VSA team was ahead in goal differential.  Our chances of advancing would hinge a bit on VSA's result this morning. 

I watched for about 10 minutes as VSA completely dominated the game.  They finished well on off a cross, and I picked up my things to head to our field.  It was apparent to me that VSA was well in control of the game and I was sure they were up by a number of goals, making it difficult for us to advance.  I made my way behind the STMA goal to the other side of the field.  The ball was out of play at the other end, so I asked the STMA GK what the score was.  "4 to 1" I thought I head her say.  "4-1?" I replied.  "No, 1-1!" she replied with that couldn't-you-hear-me-the-first-time-you-old-fart look.  1-1?  Wow.  Nice.

So, I waved at the White team girls across the other field to come over and watch the rest of the VSA game.  It ended up tied 1-1, which was a great result for us.  If VSA beat Chan/Chaska 4-0, I was fairly confident that we could get the result we'd need to ensure us of a second game today.

Rach (CF) opened up the morning's scoring in the 11th minute after a nice give and go with Ash (CM).  Rach beat a defender 1v1 at the top of the box and hit a low hard shot past the Chan/Chaska GK. 

Five minutes later, Viv (CM) played a great diagonal ball through to Syd (RM) who took a great shot into the far post netting.  The smile on Syd's face was priceless.  She had been stuck in a more defensive role on her last year's team, and this was the first goal she had scored in a year and a half.  How did I know that?  Well, she made it clear over and over again for the rest of the game! :)

Three minutes before the halftime whistle, Syd doubled her goal scoring tally for the last 18 months by finishing off a loose ball in the chaos after a corner kick was played into the box. 

Twelve minutes into the second half, E (CF) hammered a breakaway into the upper netting to give us 4, then Rach (RM) capped off a good performance with a fifth on a another breakaway.

Off to the finals this afternoon.

Bangu Tsunami 5 - Chan/Chaska 1

* * * * *

Next up at noon, the Blues came up against the Central Wisconsin Stars from Wausau.  The Stars had beaten Edina 8-3 yesterday, so they must have had some dangerous players.  I had a feeling that this game would likely be the championship, as I didn't feel threatened by any of the teams in the other bracket.  Overconfident?  Maybe. 

Of the 4 teams in Group B, NSSA led the North Fall District, Dakota Rev was #2 in the South, Mahtomedi was #3 in the East, and Centennial was mid-table in the North. 

The Dakota Rev team beat our girls in the Woodbury Tournament last year as U10s.  But we don't keep score at the U10 age group!  Yeah, right.  What planet are you on?  Everyone and their mother knows the score of a U6 rec game, let alone a U10 competitive match.  Anyway, I wasn't there, but I think the score was 1-0.  A few weeks later in the Burnsville Tournament, the Goo Girls were looking for some revenge as they came up against the Rev team again.  I was there for that game, but the end result was the same.  1-0 bad guys.  I've never seen an opposing parent group go as ballistic about the win as I saw that morning from the Rev sidelines.  But it's comes with the territory as people have begun to know who we are as a club.  There's always that "We have to beat Bangu" mentality out there and I love it.  Why?  Because it helps ensure that we see our opponents at their best, helping our girls develop through competitive games. 

Anyway, the girls were beat up after the second loss, and I think the parents were disappointed as well.  I didn't like losing, but I could see the writing on the wall.  The goal scored in Burnsville was a high, hopefully kick at goal (not even a shot) that almost came down vertically over our GK's outstretched hands.  The whole entire game was played in the other half of the field, and was peppered the opposing goal.  When we next see these guys on a larger field with a larger goal, it's an 8-0 game.  I told this to the group after the game, but I think it was lost on the girls at that time.  I was looking forward to maybe seeing if this prediction was right this weekend.

Things didn't really work out as planned as NSSA beat Rev in the group play yesterday 3-1.  So, with a win this morning for the Blues, we'd likely face NSSA this afternoon. 

It was wet out so my notes got smeared, but here's what I remember about the goals.

In the third minute, B-Money (RF) sent in a high corner kick that Maddog (LF) volleyed home for the opener. 

At the 18th minute, Meg (RD) played a great ball from our defensive third down the line for B-Money to run onto to and head to goal.  She took a low, hard, far post shot from a tight angle that the Stars GK did well to parry, but Maddog (LF) pounced on the deflection to double our lead. 

A few minutes from the end of the half, Gia (RD) made a nice play in our box to stop a Stars attack and found Rooney (LM) with a good outlet pass up field.  Rooney passed up to Phi Phi (LF) who touched the ball one time to Emi (RF) sending her into goal on a breakaway.  Again, as I mentioned about other girls this fall, if we don't do the work on slotting home breakaways, Emi likely hammers the ball hard and hopeful at goal.  This time, she took great prep touched at speed, got her head up, and struck the ball with the inside of her foot into the lower left corner.  Great finish, exactly what I'm looking for from the girls.

Second half was much like the first.  Bargsy (LM) finished another well-worked goal five minutes into the second half.  Rooney (CD) found Sophie (LF) with an outlet pass at midfield.  Sophie ran up the left flank, turned out of trouble in the left corner, and found B-Money (RM) with a nifty cross field pass across the top of the box.  B took a touch and sent in a low cross to Bargsy at the top of the six to redirect home. 

Three more goals from Rooney (2) and an absolute laser shot by Normy from 16 yards out gave us the 7-0 win.  Off to the finals. 

Bangu Tsunami 7 - Central Wisconsin Stars 0

* * * * *

The Whites came up against STMA in the Silver Flight final.  STMA was a feisty bunch with 3 or 4 very athletic and solid players.

Rach (CF) got us on the board early after receiving a great pass from Jordan (LM), beating a defender 1v1, and hitting a low shot far post.

That's the way the half ended, though I felt we controlled most of the play.

Two minutes into the second half, Rach, now at right midfield, found Viv (CF) with a through ball that Viv was able to calmly slot home. 

Three minutes later, we scored one of the best goals of the weekend for us.  Neve (LD) found Viv (CF) with a long pass up the left sidelines.  Viv used an Inside Spin Off to turn her marking defender in the left corner and pulled a pass back to E (CM) at the top of the box.  E took a good prep touch and shot/passed to Rach (RM) at the far post area.  The STMA GK came to cut out the pass, but spilled the ball.  Rach reacted quickly and finished with a tap in. 

Viv got our fourth a few minutes later. 

Bangu Tsunami 4 - STMA 1

* * * * *

The Blues had NSSA for the last game of the weekend.  Call it cocky, arrogant, confident, or knowledgeable, I didn't think the Blues would have much trouble in the final.  Though disappointed not to be seeing Dakota Rev, I could still possibly get the same end result with a good showing against NSSA.  What result is that, you ask?  Well, I wanted to prove a point to the girls and to the parents that I knew what I was talking about when I claimed last July that we (as a team) were in a good place and stronger that a team that had beaten us twice that summer.  I knew I knew what I was talking about, but it's important that the parents trust me when I say things.  This will help when I have to make decisions in what I think is in the best interest of the girls, though parents may not initially agree with me.  I do believe the parents at this age group trust me and the soccer decisions I make for both teams, else many of them might not be here.  But it doesn't hurt to continue to try and find opportunities to remind them of why they are with me.

The game wasn't a good one... if you were wearing an NSSA jersey.  With first half goals from Raley, B-Money, and Sophie, the game was well in hand 15 minutes in.

With restrictions on beating players 1v1 (no dribbling by players, only combining with teammates and passes to pass opponents) and a 3 touch or less restriction in the attacking half of the field, one would expect us to not be as effective.  Wrong.

In other games I've put restrictions on to blunt our attack as well as changed formations to pull girls back.  I didn't change formations this half, and didn't ask the girls not to go forward.  I just wanted them to go forward in a different manner, more as a team and not as individual, more due to brains and cooperation less to sheer athletic advantage.  It was a wonderful half of soccer to watch. 

I just sat in my chair shaking my head at the ball movement and combination play that the girls showed.  Now granted the game was done and the other team knew it, but it was still a competitive environment for our girls to be challenged in and work on stuff. 

The girls came off the field exclaiming that they were playing like the pros today, knocking the ball around and keeping possession, watching the other team run around chasing them.  The knowing smiles on their faces about what they were doing were precious. 

We scored 4 goals in the second half, all off combination play.  Phi Phi, Rooney, Mallory, and Maddog, all applied finishing touches and the girls ended the tournament in convincing style. 

Bangu Tsunami 7 - NSSA 1

NSC Fall Cup Day #1 - Saturday, Oct 13

Beautiful fall day for a soccer game... or six.  Can't complain about the fall weather thus far, though forecasts for tomorrow look a bit wet and cold. 

Our club would descend en masse to this event in Blaine, looking to wrap up the fall season with some good, competitive games.  Involved for sure were the U10G South Blue, U11G East Blue and White, U11B East Blue, U11B North Blue, U12G South Blue and White, U12G West White, U13G Blue and White, U14G White and Green, and U14B White.  We had the U10G East Blue, U10B East Blue, and U12G East Blue teams in Chicago for the Chicago Socker' Nike Classic Cup.

It was going to be a busy weekend for me as with Andy K gone to Chicago and Dickie V busy with his college team, I was going to be covering the U11B and the 2 U11G East teams on Saturday.  I was able to work on the schedule with the NSC and it worked out well with back to back to back to back to back to back (1, 2, 3, 4, 5... yep, 6) games.  9:00AM, 10:30AM, 12:00PM, 1:30PM, 3:00PM, and 4:30PM.  I then had my U14s in St Paul at 5:45PM.  Long day, but as I've said many times, beats working at Wal-Mart in my book. 

The day opened up with the U11 boys playing Eden Prairie.  I was excited to work with the team as 1) I thought I had a pretty good idea of where they were at technically in relation to other U11 boys teams in the area and wanted confirmation of this, and 2) it is important for me to get out and work with/observe as many teams as I can this year. 

The boys were missing a few players, but had 2 players guest in from the South U12 team (true U11s though obviously). 

The team would come up against some tough competition later in this event as they would see the South District league leaders, Lakeville, as well as the North District leaders PSA.  If they could get out of the group stage, they would likely face Wings (currently sitting in second place in the North District behind PSA) or our U11 North Academy team. 

I took the boys through a warm up I use with the girls.  I think many of them were surprised a bit as the warm up was full of coaching points and individual technique correction.  I "got on them" a bit, demanding attention and focus on technique and ideas.  I feel this constant commentary at most every opportunity is one of the factors that leads to accelerated player development.  It takes concentration on my part for sure, and continual observation during the warm up activities, but immediate feedback like "Toe up on the passes Kyle!", "Peek before you receive it Jake!", "Drive that ball across Tanner!" is, in my mind, extremely beneficial to the players.

When I started coaching in the early 1990's, I immediately gravitated to the 10 and 11 year old age groups.  My first few experiences with boys teams were not good, as this is a very squirrelly age group for boys.  I could always get the girls to pay attention, but struggled more with the boys.  I think that was a huge factor in my sense that I preferred working with the female players. 

However, today was a bit of an eye opener for me.  The boys play really well.  And this group is focused, attentive, and pick up things quickly.  Maybe I was just working with the wrong type of boys player way back when, but we'll see where this leads...

The game was well in hand from the get go, and it was fun to see the skill and quickness of the boys play.

Bangu Tsunami 6 - EP 0

Off to the girls!

* * * * *

The White team was up first, and came up against a pretty talented VSA Green group from Iowa.  There were two brackets of three teams each, so we'd play VSA and Chan/Chaska in group play, then a North Metro team in our crossover game. 

The girls got off to a flying start in the 3rd minute as Callyn (RM) blasted a low, hard shot to the far post from about 18 yards out.  VSA would come back to tie the game up and that's how it would end.  Decent result against a good team.  I think we were the stronger team overall though, but now advancing from group play would be dependant on VSA results as well as ours.  Is advancing important?  Yes.  Is winning important.  Yes again.  I don't coach teams to lose games.  Is there anything wrong with this attitude?  I dont' think so as long as 1) winning and losing are kept in perspective, 2) winning is not the constant, overwhelming focus on the girls, and 3) there is a focus on overall individual and team development as well.

Bangu Tsunami White 1 - VSA Green 1

* * * * *

The Blues would see Edina in their first tournament team.  Edina sat 4th in the West District this fall and was a decent Minnesota U11 team.  Towards the end of the summer of their U9 year, there was interest from some of these Edina players to come to Bangu for their U10 season.  Only one ended up coming over in the end, with another one following this year.  Looking at where the Edina team is now, both players, IMO, made a very good decision developmentally.  Nothing against Edina, but they do not have enough talent in their system to have benefited either of the players who moved to us. 

The Blues were on absolute fire in their warm ups.  We were playing on an unusually large NSC 8v8 field (the site has been known for tiny fields at these younger age groups), and the large field suits us to a "T", because of our speed, power, and overall athleticism, as well as the added space for our skilled players to maneuver. 

Six minutes into the game, we scored one of the best goals of the fall season.  In our 3-2-2 that has worked so well for us in Indiana, Gizmo (LD) found Sophie (RM) with a ball out of the back.  Rooney (RD) made an overlapping run up the right flank and Sophie found her with a pass into space.  Rooney took a touch and fired a line drive cross into the box where Maddog (RF) came streaking in and headed home.  Awesome team goal. 

Four minutes later, B-Money (RF) picked up a loose ball around midfield, dribbled up the right side, and found Raley (LF) at the far post with a nice cross for a tap in. 

In the 20th minute, Sophie (RM) dribbled past two defenders at the top of the Edina box and, when no others closed her down, took a touch and roofed the ball from about 8 yards out. 

Two minutes later, Maddog (RM) found Gizmo (LF) with a slot pass at the top of the box.  Gizmo took a good prep touch with the inside of her left foot and hit a low, far post shot home for our fourth goal of the half. 

The second half was not much different from the first.  We went to a 3-3-1 to work on playing around the back, and changing fields through midfield.  We carried play, though the two-touch in the attacking half restriction blunted our attack a bit. 

In the 37th minute, Quicksy (LF) got our 5th, finishing a cross from Raley, and one minute later Mallory added a 6th.

A few minutes later Gia (LF), who had been working on her flip throw in all fall, landed a beauty.  The ball sailed over probably 10 heads with eyes wide in surprise, both from our players and the Edina players.  The ball was crossed back in by Mallory (I think) from the right, and Gizmo notched her second goal of the game.

Dominant performance, but to be honest, I don't expect much less when we face Minnesota teams.  Most will be community based, made up of players from one community.  It will be difficult at best for these teams to compete with a team like ours with players from multiple communities.  In addition to drawing from a larger pool, we also draw in some of the more gifted players, making it almost impossible for community teams to compete.  Are we (Bangu) better than clubs like Edina?  I like to think that we are simple providing a different option.  When we (or anyone) get into the "better than you" mentality, this breeds resentment and animosity quickly.  Is this particular team better than the Edina team at this age group.  For sure, but nothing wrong with that. 

Though playing against weaker opponents, I absolutely love the drive and fire that our girls possess.  No matter who we face, they give it everything they've got.  Same goes for the White team.  This fire was summed up perfectly in a picture that was snapped during this game of Rooney (right) and Raley (left) flying in to challenge a ball at goal.

Bangu Tsunami 7 - Edina 0

* * * * *

The boys played extremely well against Lakeville in the afternoon.  Though missing some big guns, they tallied 5 goals against decent competition to finish the day 2 and 0. 

The Whites had North Metro in their crossover game. 

Fairly fast start for the girls as Viv (who missed the morning game) dribbled by 4 players and shot home the opening goal 26 seconds from the kick off. 

Ash (CM in a 3-3-1) volleyed home a great strike in the 24th minute of a high corner kick from Callyn (RM). 

Five minutes into the second half we gave a goal back as a North Metro striker finished off a good cross.  2-1, tight game for the moment.

However, the White girls were too strong in the end, with their pressure resulting in a PK in the 50th minute that Neve (LD) hammered home.  A few minutes prior to full time, Callyn served in a high free kick that the North Metro GK bobbled into the net.  Another good performance from the girls.

Bangu Tsunami 4 - North Metro 1

* * * * *

The Blues finished up the day against Centennial Fire.  My thought was that this game would be under control quickly, and I could leave early to head to my U14 training in St Paul. 

B-Money (RF) got us going three minutes in with a rip from 12 yards out after a creative outside of the foot slot pass from Normy (RM).

A minute later, Maddog (RM) won the ball in our half and found Raley (LF) with an outlet pass to feet.  Raley, marked tight by a Centennial defender, hit a first time ball with the inside of her right foot through to B-Money (RF).  B raced to goal on a breakaway and calmly passed the ball home past the Centennial GK. 

In the 8th minute, Raley picked up the ball just in our end, took on two defenders, and raced to goal on a 50 yard run.  Her finish effectively finished the game for us. 

In the 12th, a huge punt by Sophie (GK) sent Phi Phi on to goal.  She beat two defenders down the right side of the field and struck a low, far post shot into the net.

Our 5th came of a great lay off by Rooney (LF) to Mallory (CM) for a shot on goal. 

I packed up my stuff, left the team with Uncle Harry (Maddog's dad), and headed off to my U14 training session, looking forward to more games tomorrow.